3   1822  01063  6116 


FRANCIS  ROLT-WHEELER 


LIBRARY 

•DIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


3  1822  01063  6116 


PS 


The  Boy  with  the  U.  S.  Survey 


BOOKS  BY  FRANCIS   ROLT-WHEELER 


TH.  S.  Service  Series 

Illustrations  from  Photographs  taken  for  U.  S.  Govern 
ment.     Large  I2mo.     Cloth.     Price  $1.50  each. 

THE  BOY  WITH   THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 
THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.    FORESTERS 


LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  BOSTON 


Photograph  by  L'.S.G.X. 

THE  CHIEF  GEOGRAPHER  OF  THK  UNITED  STATES,  SURVEYING 
THE  SIERRAS.  WITH  ASSISTANT  TOPOGRAPHER. 


U.  S.    SERVICE    SERIES. 


THE   BOY  WITH 
THE    U.  S.    SURVEY 


BY 


FRANCIS  ROLT-WHEELER 


With  Thirty-seven  Illustrations  from  Photographs 
taken  by  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey 


BOSTON 
LOTHROP,    LEE   &    SHEPARD   CO. 


Published,  August,  1909 


COPYRIGHT,  1909,  BY  LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  Co. 

All  rights  reserved 


THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.   s.  SURVEY 


florwoob 
BERWICK  &  SMITH  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass. 
U.  S.  A. 


To 

My  Son 
ROGER  ROLT-WHEELER 


PREFACE 

JUST  as  manly,  courageous,  and  daring  work  as 
has  ever  been  done  in  the  past  still  is  being  done, 
and  adventures  as  great  as  the  world  has  con 
tained  before  are  happening  to-day  in  these  United 
States.  The  difference  is  that  while  the  explorer 
and  adventurer  of  the  past  too  often  sought  but 
personal  glory  in  his  exploits,  these  now  are  done 
in  the  name  of  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  American 
people. 

The  adventures  in  this  volume,  startling  as  they 
may  seem,  were  recounted  to  the  author  by  the 
very  men  who  underwent  them;  slight  details  only 
being  changed  to  fit  them  into  the  rapid  sequence 
with  which  they  have  to  be  compressed  in  the 
pages  of  a  book.  This  little  company  of  "  men 
who  dare  "  are  real  beings,  living  a  real  life,  and 
ennobling  as  well  as  enriching  their  country  by 
their  efforts.  In  the  administration  of  this  de 
partment,  manliness,  alertness,  untiring  industry, 
and  unfailing  courage  are  the  prime  essentials, 


viii  PREFACE 

favoritism  is  unknown,  and  every  American  boy 
and  man  has  an  equal  chance. 

The  world  is  not  yet  all  sordid  and  common 
place  and  the  glamour  of  an  undiscovered  peril  is 
not  yet  all  worn  away.  To  show  the  inner  and 
the  outer  worth  of  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  as  well  as  to  depict  the  adventurous  possi 
bilities  open  to  a  lad  of  perseverance  and  spirit, 

is  the  intent  and  purpose  of 

THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

A    START   AT   THE    CAPITAL 1 

CHAPTER  II 
A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT 23 

CHAPTER  III 
FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY 44 

CHAPTER  IV 
IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS 67 

CHAPTER  V 
PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON 88 

CHAPTER  VI 
A  LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER 109 

CHAPTER  VII 
SAVED  BY  His  NERVE 130 

CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  LAND  WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS 149 

CHAPTER  IX 

A  FIRST-CLASS  BUCKING  MULE 172 

ix 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  X 

PAGE 

AMERICANS  THAT  ARE  FORGOTTEN 190 

CHAPTER  XI 
WHERE  PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  REIGNS 210 

CHAPTER  XII 
THE  ALASKAN  TRIP  BEGUN 234 

CHAPTER  XIII 
WRESTLING  WITH  A  MOUNTAIN  GOAT        ....     252 

CHAPTER  XIV 
BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM 268 

CHAPTER  XV 
FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE 290 

CHAPTER  XVI 
DECLARING  WAR  ON  UNCLE  SAM 311 

CHAPTER  XVII 
CLAWED  BY  AN  ANGRY  BEAR       .       .       .       .     ,  .       .     328 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
FIGHTING  FIRE  IN  THE  TUNDRA 344 

CHAPTER  XIX 
RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER  .     362 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Chief  Geographer  of  the  United  States,  surveying  the 

Sierras,  with  Assistant  Topographer     .      .     Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

In  the  Home  of  the  Kodiak  Bear 8 

A  Lofty  Spouter  ) 

Water  Enough  for  All  ) 

In  the  Tamarack  Swamp 44 

A  Tangle  of  Swamp     .                 54 

Measuring  Stream  Flow 72 

Difficulties  of  Work 76 

Dense   Southern  Palm  Grove 82 

Grand   Canyon   of  the   Colorado 94 

An  Awkward  Country  to  Work  In 98 

"How  in  the  World  am  I  going  to  get  up  there?"       .  103 

A  Hard  Point  to  Measure 118 

Twenty-seven  Miles  from  Water 152 

In  the  Death  Valley 170 

Crossing  a  Swollen  Stream 176 

Bridged  by  "Double  Tree" 180 

If  He  Should  Slip! 186 

A  Grim  and  Icy  Barrier 252 

A  General  View  of  Tyonok 256 

Farewell  to  Civilization 260 

xi 


xii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PAGE 

Where  an  Eternal  Gale  Rages 270 

Morning  after  the  Blizzard 278 

Resting  after  a  Long  Pull 288 

A  Short  but  Dangerous  Rapid 300 

Skinning  a  Caribou 306 

The  End  of  a  Hard  Climb 310 

The  Only  Bit  of  Rock  for  Miles 314 

In  Icy  Water  under  a  Burning  Sun       ....  348 

Thus  Far  with  the  Boats,  and  no  Farther!         „       .       .  354 

Winter's  Threat  Almost  Fulfilled 370 

Eskimo  Saviors 

Pointing  away  from  Winter 


j- 376 


THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S. 
SURVEY 

CHAPTER  I 
A  STAKT  AT  THE  CAPITAL 

"  MB.  RIVERS?  " 

The  Alaskan  explorer  and  geologist  looked  up 
from  his  desk  and  took  in  with  a  quick  glance  the 
boy,  standing  hat  in  hand  beside  the  door,  noting 
with  quiet  approval  the  steady  gray  eye  and  firm 
chin  of  his  visitor. 

"  Yes?  "  he  replied. 

"  I'm  Roger  Doughty,"  explained  the  lad 
sturdily,  "  and  Mr.  Herold  told  me  that  I  should 
find  you  here. ' ' 

"  And  what  can  I  do  for  you!  " 

The  boy  seemed  somewhat  taken  aback  by  the 
direct  question,  as  though  he  had  expected  the  pur 
pose  of  his  visit  to  be  known,  but  he  answered 
without  hesitation. 

"  I  understood  from  Mr.  Herold  that  he  had 
spoken  to  you  about  me.  I  want  to  go  to  Alaska." 


2  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  You  mean  on  the  Survey!  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Your  father  wrote  to  me  some  time  ago  that 
you  would  be  coming.  He  said,  if  I  remember, 
that  you  had  been  nominated  one  of  the  new  field 
men  under  that  college  scholarship  plan." 

'  *  I  think  I  am  the  first,  Mr.  Rivers, ' '  answered 
Roger  with  a  smile. 

"  Sit  down,"  said  the  elder  man;  then,  as  the 
boy  hesitated,  "  just  put  those  books  on  the  table." 

The  table  in  question  was  covered  with  an  im 
mense  map  showing  the  vast  unexplored  and  un- 
surveyed  regions  of  Alaska,  that  far  northern  por 
tion  of  the  United  States  which  is  equal  in  size 
to  all  the  States  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  north 
of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line. 

"  Mr.  Herold  spoke  of  the  plan  to  me,"  con 
tinued  the  explorer,  ' '  but  he  gave  me  few  of  the 
details.  Tell  me,  if  you  can,  just  how  the  project 
is  to  be  worked." 

"  I  don't  know  for  certain,  Mr.  Eivers,"  re 
plied  the  boy, l l  but  so  far  as  I  can  make  out,  it  is 
this  way.  You  see,  Mr.  Carneller  gave  a  large 
fund  to  get  some  special  boys  into  the  govern 
ment  bureaus  to  give  a  chance  for  the  upbuilding 
of  the  personnel  while  still  young,  and  this  plan 


A  START  AT  THE  CAPITAL        3 

was  indorsed  in  Washington.  The  scholarship 
paid  everything  for  two  years  and  gave  the  usual 
two  months'  vacation  beside,  giving  also  a  liberal 
allowance  for  personal  expenses." 

"  And  you  say  this  plan  is  now  proceeding!  ' 

"  I  heard  that  it  was  to  be  tried  this  first  year 
only  in  two  or  three  schools.  I  guess  I  was  lucky, 
because  they  started  out  with  us." 

' '  But  how  does  your  father  like  the  idea  of  your 
roughing  it  ?  In  the  days  when  I  knew  him,  he  be 
lieved  in  keeping  his  boys  near  home." 

' '  He  wants  me  to  stay,  but,  you  see,  Mr.  Rivers, 
I  always  wanted  to  get  out  and  do  something,  and 
city  life  isn't  what  it's  cracked  up  to  be.  I  want 
to  be  doing  things  worth  while,  things  that  will 
tell  in  the  long  run,  and  this  poking  over  columns 
of  figures  in  a  stuffy  office  doesn't  suit  me  worth 
a  cent  when  I'm  just  aching  to  get  out  of  doors." 

The  explorer's  grave  expression  relaxed  into  a 
half-smile  at  the  boyish  but  earnest  way  of  de 
scribing  the  feeling  he  himself  knew  so  well;  but 
he  felt  it  his  duty  to  put  bounds  to  that  enthusiasm. 
Before  he  could  speak  in  protest,  however,  Eoger 
continued : 

"  I  know  what  you're  going  to  say,  all  right,  Mr. 
Eivers.  I  know  there's  just  as  good  work  done 


4  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

nearer  home  as  there  is  far  away  in  Alaska  or  the 
Bad  Lands  or  any  of  those  places,  but  why  can't 
that  work  be  done  by  the  fellows  who  like  to  hang 
around  towns?  I  don't,  that's  all,  and  the  whole 
reason  I  went  in  for  that  scholarship  and  won  it ' ' 
— these  last  words  with  an  air  of  conscious  pride — 
' '  was  just  so  that  I  could  get  into  real  and  excit 
ing  work." 

"  If  it's  work  you're  after,  you've  come  to  the 
right  place,  Doughty,"  was  the  prompt  reply, 
"  but  it's  more  laborious  than  exciting." 

"  Why,  I  thought  it  was  full  of  excitement!  " 
exclaimed  Roger. 

"  Not  especially.  The  work  follows  a  regular 
routine  on  the  trail,  just  as  it  does  anywhere  else. 
It  isn't  so  much  the  ability  to  face  danger  that 
counts  in  the  Survey,  as  it  is  the  willingness  to  do 
conscientiously  the  drudgery  and  hard  work  which 
bring  in  the  real  results." 

"  No  getting  lost  and  wandering  over  frozen 
tundra  until  nearly  at  the  point  of  death,  and  then 
being  rescued  just  in  time!  ' '  asked  the  boy  breath 
lessly,  his  mind  running  on  an  exciting  book  which 
had  occupied  his  thoughts  a  few  hours  before. 

"  NO!  "  The  negative  was  emphatic.  "  The 
Alaskan  parties  are  composed  of  picked  men,  all 


A  START  AT  THE  CAPITAL         5 

of  whom  have  had  considerable  experience  and 
who  don't  get  lost.  And  if,  by  any  chance,  they  are 
late  in  getting  into  camp,  they  know  how  to  shift 
for  themselves.  Besides,  the  chief  of  the  party  is 
ever  on  the  alert  for  the  welfare  of  his  men." 

"  But  aren't  there  really  any  snowslides,  or 
rapids,  or  forest  fires,  or  bears,  or  anything  of  that 
sort?"  cried  the  boy  in  a  disappointed  tone. 
"  Surely  it  isn't  as  tame  as  all  that?  " 

"  I  wouldn't  go  so  far  as  to  call  it  tame,"  re 
sponded  the  head  of  the  Alaskan  work;  "  no,  it's 
not  tame,  but  you  can't  expect  a  different  ad 
venture  three  times  a  day,  like  meals.  We  don't 
go  out  to  find  adventures,  but  to  do  surveying, 
and  are  only  too  thankful  when  the  work  goes 
ahead  without  any  interruption.  But  of  course 
little  incidents  do  occur.  I  was  considerably  de 
layed  in  scaling  a  glacier  once,  and  you're  bound 
to  strike  a  forest  fire  occasionally,  but  things  like 
that  don't  worry  us.  Rapids  are  a  daily  story, 
too,  and  of  course  there  are  lots  of  bears." 

"  Lots  of  bears!  "  exclaimed  Eoger,  his  eyes 
lighting  up  in  the  discovery  that  the  days  of  ad 
venture  had  not  yet  all  passed  by, ' '  have  you  ever 
been  chased  by  a  grizzly  bear?  ' 

"  Worse  than  that!  "    The  old-timer  was  smil- 


6  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

ing  broadly  at  his  would-be  follower's  interest,  be 
ing  roused  from  his  customary  semi-taciturnity  by 
the  boy's  impetuous  enthusiasm.  "  I  thought  a 
Kodiak  bear  had  me  one  time." 

"  Worse?  '  The  boy  leaned  forward  almost 
out  of  his  chair  in  excitement.  ' '  Is  a  Kodiak  bear 
fiercer  than  a  grizzly?  Do  tell  me  about  it,  Mr. 
Eivers!  ' 

"  Oh,  there  wasn't  much  to  it,  I  got  away  all 
right."  Then,  with  intent  to  change  the  subject, 
he  continued,  * '  but  about  this  desire  of  yours  to  go 
to  the  field " 

"  Please,  Mr.  Eivers,"  interrupted  Eoger,  his 
curiosity  overcoming  his  sense  of  politeness, 
11  won't  you  tell  me  about  the  bear?  ' 

The  bushy  brown  eyebrows  of  the  explorer  low 
ered  at  the  interruption,  but  the  boy  went  on 
hastily : 

"  I've  never  met  any  one  before  who  had  even 
seen  a  real  bear  loose,  much  less  had  a  fight  with 
one.  I  don't  want  to  seem  rude,  but  I  do  want  to 
hear  it  so  much." 

"  You  are  persistent,  at  least,  Doughty,"  an 
swered  the  other,  with  a  suspicion  of  annoyance  in 
his  manner,  "  but  sometimes  that's  not  such  a 
bad  thing.  Well,  if  you  want  to  hear  the  story 


A  START  AT  THE  CAPITAL        7 

so  much  I'll  tell  it  to  you,  and  perhaps  it  may  show 
the  sort  of  thing  that  sometimes  does  come  about 
on  the  trail.  It  was  this  way : 

"  Some  four  years  ago,  the  Survey  sent  me  on 
a  trip  which  included  the  mapping  of  a  portion  of 
the  foothills  of  the  Mt.  St.  Elias  Range.  It  is  a 
rugged  and  barren  part  of  the  country,  but  al 
though  rough  in  the  extreme,  no  obstacles  had 
been  encountered  that  hard  labor  and  long  hours 
could  not  overcome.  It  was  a  packing  trip  and 
everything  had  progressed  favorably,  there  was 
plenty  of  forage,  the  streams  had  been  fairly  pass 
able,  and  we  feasted  twice  a  day  on  moose  or  moun 
tain  sheep.  For  days  and  weeks  together  we  had 
hardly  been  out  of  sight  of  caribou.  They  had  a 
curious  way  of  approaching,  either  one  at  a  time 
or  else  in  quite  large  bands,  coming  close  to  the 
pack-train,  then  breaking  away  suddenly  at  full 
gallop  and  returning  in  large  circles.  Even  the 
crack  of  a  rifle  could  not  scare  them  out  of  their 
curiosity,  and  we  never  shot  any  except  when  we 
needed  meat. 

"  One  day  I  got  back  to  camp  with  the  boys  a 
good  deal  earlier  than  usual,  somewhere  about 
four  o'clock.  We  had  started  very  early  that 
morning,  I  remember,  trying  to  gain  a  peak  some- 


8  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

what  hard  of  access.  It  was  difficult  enough,  so 
difficult  in  fact,  that  the  trial  had  to  be  abandoned 
that  day,  as  we  found  it  could  only  be  approached 
from  the  other  side.  Of  course  our  arrival  sent 
George,  the  camp  cook,  into  the  most  violent  kind 
of  a  hurry.  He  mentioned  to  me,  as  I  remembered 
later,  that  he  had  shot  at  a  Kodiak  bear  somewhere 
about  noon,  and  though  he  had  found  tracks  with 
blood  in  them,  he  did  not  believe  that  he  had 
wounded  the  bear  sufficiently  to  make  it  worth 
while  to  track  him.  But  George  was  hustling  at 
top  speed  to  get  dinner,  and  no  one  paid  much  at 
tention  to  him,  I  least  of  all,  for  I  was  trying  to 
figure  out  the  best  way  to  climb  that  peak  next 
day. 

' '  After  dinner,  it  was  still  early,  and  as  I  was 
anxious  to  get  a  line  on  the  geology  of  the  section, 
in  order  to  determine  how  far  the  volcanic  forma 
tion  of  the  Wrangell  mountains  intrudes  upon  the 
St.  Elias  Eange,  I  thought  an  hour  would  be  well 
spent  in  investigating.  I  was  not  going  far  from 
camp,  so,  as  it  chanced,  I  took  nothing  with  me  but 
my  geological  hammer.  About  a  mile  from  camp 
I  found  a  sharp  ravine,  and  I  wanted  to  see 
whether  the  granodiorite,  which  I  could  see  in  the 
walls  of  the  ravine,  extended  its  whole  depth.  I 


,  ^    -}».   ,..    ^  i.  i          .   «: 
J'hotoi/raphs  by  L'.S.a.X. 

Ix  THE  HOME  OF  THE  KODIAO  BEAR. 

The  pack-train  on  its  way  to  the  camp,  where  chief  of  party 
narrowly  escaped  death. 


A  START  AT  THE  CAPITAL        9 

scrambled  down  into  the  ravine,  making  observa 
tions  as  I  went,  until  the  cleft  ended  in  a  sort  of 
dry  lake  bed,  shaped  like  a  deep  oval  saucer.  Steep 
declivities  ran  upward  from  the  rim  of  this  de 
pression  in  every  way  but  two,  the  ravine  down 
which  I  had  come  and  a  creek  bed  running  to  the 
south.  Being  desirous  of  tracing  the  origin  of  this 
unusual  configuration,  I  scrambled  to  the  edge, 
breaking  through  a  clump  of  bushes  on  my  way. 
"  As  I  did  so,  I  was  startled  by  a  deep  and  vi 
cious  growl  which  seemed  to  come  from  my  feet, 
and  before  I  realized  what  the  cracking  of  the 
brushwood  meant,  the  cook's  story  came  back  to 
me,  and  I  broke  for  the  the  ravine.  I  was  too  late ! 
There,  in  the  path  down  which  I  had  come,  his 
muzzle  and  paws  red  with  the  blood  from  the  deep 
flesh  wounds  he  had  received,  and  which  he  had 
been  licking  in  order  to  try  to  assuage  the  pain, 
stood  an  immense  Kodiak  bear.  The  Kodiak  is 
not  as  ferocious  as  the  grizzly,  but  this  beast  was 
maddened  by  the  pain  of  his  wound,  and  by  the 
suspicion  that  I  had  followed  to  work  him  further 
ill.  My  slight  geologic  pick  was  of  no  avail  against 
the  huge  brute,  my  road  of  escape  was  cut  off,  and 
the  bear  was  advancing,  growling  angrily.  I  broke 
and  ran  for  the  rim  of  the  lake,  hoping  to  be  able 


io  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

to  encircle  it  and  return  to  the  opening  of  the  ra 
vine  by  which  I  had  entered,  and  as  I  ran  I  heard 
the  bear  charge  after  me. 

"  At  the  edge  I  paused,  but  there  was  no  path 
along  the  former  beach,  and  having  no  alternative 
I  slid  down  the  debris  into  the  lake  bed.  Blind 
with  rage  the  bear  followed,  and  for  a  moment  he 
seemed  to  have  me  at  his  mercy.  A  hundred  yards 
further  on,  however,  some  slender  bushes  grew 
out  of  the  shelving  bank  and  with  the  bear  but  a 
few  yards  behind  I  leaped  for  these.  Had  I  missed 
my  grasp,  or  had  they  been  torn  from  their  slender 
rooting  the  story  would  have  ended  right  there. 
But  they  held,  and  I  reached  the  level  of  the  old 
beach,  leaving  my  pursuer  momentarily  baffled  be 
low.  I  lost  no  time  in  reaching  the  ravine,  and  I 
think  I  pretty  nearly  hold  the  speed  record  in 
Alaska  for  that  half-mile  back  to  camp." 

"  And  the  bear?  "  queried  the  boy. 

"  I'm  on  the  Geological  Survey,  not  in  the  wild 
animal  business,"  was  the  ready  answer,  "  and 
I  left  that  bear  alone.  I  never  hunt  for  trouble. ' ' 

1 1  And  shall  I  see  those  bears  if  I  go  up  with  you 
this  summer?  "  asked  Roger. 

1 '  Likely  enough  you  will  see  them  if  you  go  up 
to  Alaska,  but  that  will  not  be  this  summer. ' ' 


A  START  AT  THE  CAPITAL       u 

"  Why  not,  Mr.  Elvers!  " 

"  That  work  needs  trained  men,  as  I  told  you, 
and  you  know  nothing  of  the  Survey  yet.  Besides, 
you  will  be  sent  where  Mr.  Herold  thinks  best,  not 
where  you  prefer  to  go." 

'  *  And  I  had  hoped  to  see  Alaska  this  summer !  ' 
cried  the  boy  dejectedly. 

' '  That  could  not  be  in  any  case ;  all  the  parties 
have  started  already,"  replied  the  older  man. 
"  You  see,  in  order  to  make  use  of  every  day  of 
the  short  Alaskan  summer,  the  men  start  early  in 
the  spring  when  a  long  trip  is  planned,  so  that 
they  will  be  at  the  point  of  start  when  the  break-up 
comes." 

"  Then  I  am  too  late  after  all!  "  said  Koger, 
with  the  most  acute  disappointment. 

The  experienced  Alaskan  explorer  smiled. 

11  Doughty,"  he  said,  "  you  should  realize  that 
you  could  not  possibly  have  gone  up  with  us  this 
year.  Minutes  are  too  precious  on  the  northern 
trails  to  spend  any  of  them  teaching  the  routine  of 
camp  life  or  the  duties  of  the  Survey.  We  take 
absolutely  no  men  who  are  not  experienced.  But, 
besides  that,  this  year  would  not  be  the  one  in 
which  you  would  wish  to  go,  since  the  parties  now 
up  there  are  surveying  small  sections  of  ter- 


12  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

ritory  to  fill  up  gaps  in  the  more  populated 
areas." 

"  Then  there  is  no  chance  for  me?  ' 

"  Not  this  summer.  But  Mr.  Herold  did  tell 
me  that  he  had  seen  you,  and  perhaps  there  may 
be  an  opportunity  later  for  you  to  get  into  the 
Alaskan  work." 

Eoger  bent  forward  eagerly  to  find  out  what 
was  coming. 

"  If,  therefore,  you  make  good  in  the  Survey 
during  the  coming  year,  I  might  take  you  with  me 
next  summer,  in  what  is  going  to  be  one  of  the 
most  interesting  Alaskan  trips  ever  undertaken, 
wherein  I  am  going  to  make  a  reconnoissance  of 
Alaska  from  south  to  north,  beginning  at  Cook 
Inlet  and  working  through  to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
It  will  be  my  personal  party,  and  because  the  dis 
tance  is  so  great  it  will  have  to  be  a  forced  march 
every  day  without  a  break.  That  needs  tough 
ness,  and  of  course  I  know  nothing  of  your  powers 
of  endurance.  One  weak  man  in  the  party,  you  see, 
might  delay  us  so  that  we  would  not  reach  the 
Arctic  until  after  the  freeze-up  and  then  there 
would  be  no  getting  out. ' ' 

' '  I  may  not  be  very  big,  Mr.  Rivers, ' '  said  the 
boy  with  a  conscious  gesture,  "  but  I  strip  well." 


A  START  AT  THE  CAPITAL       13 

The  echo  from  the  athletic  field  sounded  strange 
in  that  office  so  full  of  the  actualities  of  life,  and 
even  Roger  himself  laughed  at  the  way  his  words 
sounded. 

' '  I  mean, ' '  he  added,  ' '  that  I  was  always  able 
to  do  good  track  work  and  had  lots  of  wind. ' ' 

11  You  need  more  than  that.  You  need  muscle 
and  grit.  I  think  you'll  do,  Doughty,"  the  ex 
plorer  continued,  "  but  if  you  want  the  chance  of 
going  with  me  next  spring,  you've  got  to  make  a 
reputation  for  yourself  in  the  Survey.  Learn  your 
business  as  a  rodman  and  so  forth,  become  able  to 
pack  a  vicious  mule,  know  how  to  swim  an  ice-cold 
river  with  a  six-mile  current,  get  so  that  you  can 
swing  an  ax  and  build  a  bridge,  be  an  expert  ca 
noeist  in  a  boiling  rapid,  sit  anything  with  four 
legs  that  ever  was  foaled,  accustom  yourself  to  six 
teen  hours  on  the  trail  and  to  picking  out  the  soft 
side  of  a  rock  to  sleep  on,  grow  to  like  mosquitoes, 
and  by  that  time  you'll  be  about  ready  for  the 
Alaskan  trail.  But  it's  no  job  for  a  weakling. ' ' 

"  Those  are  just  the  very  things  I  want  to  be 
able  to  do,"  answered  Roger. 

"  I  suppose  you  think  because  those  seem  to 
imply  adventure  that  it  will  be  all  very  pleasant 
in  the  learning,  but  there  is  another  factor  in- 


i4  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

volved.  We  can  find  a  hundred  boys  and  men  who 
are  ready  to  face  danger  and  hardship  to  one  who 
will  face  the  drudgery  of  every-day  existence  at 
the  desk  or  in  the  field.  It  is  not  the  shooting  the 
rapids  which  is  difficult,  but  it  is  the  days  of  heart 
breaking  toil  in  packing  around  the  rapids  that 
test  the  man.  Physical  courage  has  ever  been 
one  of  the  cheapest  of  commodities,  and  if  we 
needed  only  this  in  our  work,  it  would  not  be  so 
difficult  to  fill  the  ranks  with  the  kind  of  men  the 
work  demands.  My  own  experience  would  lead 
me  to  believe  that  what  we  need  in  the  Geological 
Survey  is  the  '  staying  '  rather  than  the  *  dash 
ing  '  qualities.  And  you  must  remember  that 
even  if  you  do  come  with  me  next  year,  there 's  no 
pull  in  it  to  bring  you  a  sinecure,  the  chief  of  a 
party  has  entirely  a  free  hand  in  the  selection 
of  his  assistants,  and  their  value  for  the  work  is 
almost  the  only  consideration.  If  you  come,  it 
will  be  practically  as  a  camp  hand,  just  to  do  what 
you're  told,  whether  it  is  what  you  want  to  do  or 
not.  Work  on  the  Survey  needs  backbone." 

Eoger's  jaw  set  hard. 

"  You  can  enroll  me  on  that  party  of  yours,  Mr. 
Eivers,"  he  said  with  determination,  "  and  I'll  be 
with  you  to  the  last  ditch.  I'm  not  altogether  a 


A  START  AT  THE  CAPITAL       15 

city  boy,  I've  roughed  it  a  good  deal,  and  by  the 
time  you're  ready  to  start  I'll  be  as  hard  as  nails. 

I  don't  care  what  trouble  it  takes,  I'm  bound 
to  go!" 

The  older  man  rose  from  his  seat  and  put  his 
hand  on  the  boy's  shoulder. 

"  You've  the  right  spirit,  Doughty,"  he  said, 

II  and  I  expect  I'll  be  able  to  take  you.    You'd  bet 
ter  go  down  and  see  the  Director  and  he  will  get 
you  started,  so  that  you  can  begin  to  get  ready  to 
come    with    me    next    spring.      No,    on    second 
thoughts,"  he  added,  "  I'll  go  down  with  you  my 
self." 

Chatting  pleasantly,  the  two  took  the  elevator 
to  the  second  floor  of  the  Survey  building,  where 
was  located  the  Director's  office,  and  as  John,  the 
old  colored  hallman,  told  them  that  the  chief  was 
engaged,  Rivers  led  the  way  into  the  big  room, 
where  Mitchon,  the  Director's  secretary,  had  his 
desk. 

"  Well,  Roger,"  said  the  latter,  for  he  had  met 
the  boy  before  he  had  gone  up  to  the  Alaskan 
geologist's  office,  "  did  you  find  out  a  lot  of  things 
about  Alaska?  " 

"  Quite  a  number,  Mr.  Mitchon,"  answered  the 
boy. 


16  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  And  are  you  still  as  anxious  to  go  as  ever?  " 

"  More!  " 

The  chief  of  the  northern  work  put  his  hand  on 
the  boy's  shoulder.  Then,  greatly  to  the  secre 
tary's  surprise,  for  he  knew  how  rarely  Eivers 
could  be  got  to  talk,  the  geologist  recounted  with 
gusto  his  endeavors  to  dissuade  the  boy  by  repre 
senting  the  hardships  of  the  trail  and  how  each 
successive  obstacle  had  but  deepened  the  lad's  pur 
pose;  and  when  he  told  of  Roger's  determina 
tion  to  acquire  in  a  few  months  all  the  accom 
plishments  and  virtues  of  an  old-time  woods 
man,  Rivers 's  short  and  infrequent  laugh  found 
vent. 

"  And  I  tell  you  what,  Mr.  Mitchon,"  he  con 
cluded,  just  as  two  visitors  entered  the  room, 
"  that's  the  kind  of  boy  these  United  States 
want !  ' ' 

On  seeing  the  Director  and  his  guest,  the  secre 
tary,  who  had  been  leaning  back  in  his  swinging 
chair  listening  with  great  amusement  and  zest, 
sprang  to  his  feet,  but  before  he  could  say  any 
thing  the  visitor  broke  in  with  warm,  enthusiastic 
tones. 

"  And  that's  the  kind  of  lad  I  like  to  know. 
Shake  hands,  my  boy,  and  tell  me  your  name." 


A  START  AT  THE  CAPITAL       17 

"  Roger  Doughty,  sir,"  answered  the  boy,  winc 
ing  a  little  under  the  grip. 

"  The  first  of  the  Carneller  nominees,"  put  in 
the  Director. 

But  the  guest  had  turned,  and  after  greeting 
the  secretary,  spoke  to  Rivers,  who  still  had  one 
hand  on  the  boy's  shoulder. 

11  I  think  I  met  you  with  reference  to  Alaska," 
he  said  readily,  l  i  but  I  do  not  recall  your  name. ' ' 

"  Rivers,  Mr.  President,"  answered  the  geolo 
gist. 

*  *  Mr.  President ! ' '  Roger  felt  almost  suffocated 
with  joy  at  hearing  that  this  praise  of  him  had 
come  direct  to  the  ears  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States. 

"  I  am  delighted,  Mr.  Rivers,  delighted,"  said 
the  President,  "  to  have  this  opportunity  of  see 
ing  you  again,  and  to  hear  you  approve  this  new 
plan  so  heartily." 

"  I  didn't  approve  of  it  at  all,  Mr.  President," 
answered  Rivers  with  characteristic  abruptness, 
"  but  this  boy  has  converted  me." 

"  Tell  the  President  the  story,  Mr.  Rivers," 
suggested  Mitchon. 

"  I  had  been  pointing  out  to  the  lad,"  accord 
ingly  said  the  geologist,  *  *  how  exceedingly  strenu- 


1 8  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

ous  is  the  work  on  the  Alaskan  trail,  how  that  none 
but  picked,  experienced  men  of  iron  constitution 
and  frontier  powers  of  endurance  could  carry  out 
the  work,  and  how  one  weak  man  in  the  party 
might  cripple  the  entire  season's  trip." 

The  President  nodded. 

"  That  is  absolutely  true,"  he  said;  "  that  is 
why  so  many  hunting  trips  are  failures  when  there 
is  a  large  party  along.  But  I  interrupt." 

"  So  I  urged  that  he  must  get  a  reputation  be 
fore  coming  with  me.  As  far  as  I  can  remember, 
I  said  to  him,  '  You  must  first  learn  your  business 
as  a  rodman  and  so  forth,  be  able  to  throw  a  dia 
mond  hitch  over  a  vicious  mule,  climb  a  peak  with 
no  firmer  hand-hold  than  your  finger-nails  will 
give  you,  learn  to  swim  a  glacier-fed  river  with  a 
six-mile  current,  ride  any  brute  that  ever  was 
foaled,  run  every  kind  of  rapid  in  any  sort  of  a 
canoe,  find  out  how  to  swing  an  ax  and  build 
a  bridge,  be  able  to  find  your  way  over  the  most 
rugged  country  in  the  vilest  weather  or  on  a  pitch- 
black  night,  get  used  to  sixteen  hours  on  the  trail, 
and  to  picking  out  a  soft  rock  to  sleep  on,  chum  up 
with  grizzlies  and  grow  to  like  mosquitoes,  and 
by  that  time  you  will  be  ready  for  the  Alaskan 
trail'  " 


A  START  AT  THE  CAPITAL       19 

The  President  burst  into  a  hearty  laugh,  and 
said, 

"  That  ought  to  have  settled  him!  ': 

"  Hm!  Settled  him!  He  just  said,  *  You  can 
enroll  me  on  that  party  of  yours,'  and  by  all  the 
powers,  I  will." 

"  You're  right,"  said  the  President  emphati 
cally,  ' '  and  I  say  to  the  workers  of  the  Survey,  as 
I  said  to  another  band  of  workers  once,  that  it  is 
a  good  thing  that  there  should  be  a  large  body  of 
our  fellow  citizens — that  there  should  be  a  pro 
fession — whose  members  must,  year  in  and  year 
out,  display  those  old,  old  qualities  of  courage, 
daring,  resolution,  and  unflinching  willingness  to 
meet  danger  at  need.  I  hope  to  see  all  our  people 
develop  the  softer,  gentler  virtues  to  an  ever-in 
creasing  degree,  but  I  hope  never  to  see  them  lose 
the  sterner  virtues  that  make  men,  men." 

Eoger  listened  with  all  his  ears,  hoping  that  the 
President  would  turn  directly  to  him.  Nor  was  he 
disappointed.  After  some  congratulatory  words 
to  Rivers  on  the  value  of  the  Alaskan  work  and  the 
ability  displayed  in  its  direction,  he  turned  to 
Roger. 

"  My  boy,"  he  said,  "  you  are  starting  out  the 
right  way.  You  are  the  first  of  a  little  army  of 


20  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

workers  who  shall  help  to  win  the  victories  of 
peace.  You  have  a  nobler  mission  than  that  of  pre 
serving  a  fine  tradition  unspotted,  you  have  the 
rare  honor  of  making  the  tradition.  Be  manly 
and  straight,  give  a  square  deal  and  never  be 
afraid  of  hard  work,  and  make  for  yourself  and 
for  those  who  shall  come  after  you  a  record  worthy 
of  inclusion  in  the  annals  of  the  Geological  Survey 
of  which  we  are  so  justly  proud." 

He  shook  hands  with  Roger  again,  and  bowing 
to  Rivers  and  Mitchon,  went  on  his  way  with  the 
Director.  For  a  moment  no  one  spoke,  both  men 
watching  the  boy  keenly.  Suddenly  the  look  of 
solemnity  and  attention  slipped  from  his  face,  and 
stepping  forward  unconsciously  as  though  to  fol 
low,  he  burst  out: 

"  He 's  fine !  Oh,  isn  't  he  just  bully !  ' '  Then  he 
caught  the  secretary's  smile,  and  he  checked  him 
self.  "  And  wasn't  he  just  kind  to  me!  Oh,  Mr. 
Mitchon,  how  can  I  thank  you,  and  you,  Mr.  Rivers. 
I  have  wanted  to  see  the  President  for  years  and 
years,  but  I  never  dreamed  of  seeing  him  close, 
like  that,  and  talking  to  him,  except  at  some  public 
reception,  which  would  seem  altogether  different. ' ' 

Tears  of  pride  and  joy  stood  in  the  lad's  eyes, 
and  he  choked,  unable  to  go  on.  The  men  were 


A  START  AT  THE  CAPITAL       21 

touched  by  the  boy's  intense  patriotism  and  emo 
tion,  and  then  the  secretary  said  softly: 

"  That,  Roger,  will  be  something  to  inspire  you 
and  make  you  stronger  in  all  the  hard  moments  of 
your  life.  The  greatness  of  the  President,"  he 
continued,  "  lies  in  his  power  to  make  greater  all 
those  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact. ' ' 

"  I  could  never  forget  it,"  replied  Roger  in  a 
low  voice. 

' '  And  now, ' '  resumed  Mitchon, ' '  I  may  tell  you 
that  we  were  sure  Mr.  Rivers  would  not  advise  you 
to  go  to  Alaska  this  year,  and  Mr.  Herold  told  me 
to  take  you  to  Mr.  Field,  who  has  charge  of  the 
swamp  work  in  Minnesota.  You  will  go  out  with 
him  as  soon  as  he  opens  field  work,  which,  I  pre 
sume,  will  be  next  week." 

Rivers  then  turned  to  the  boy. 

* '  Doughty, ' '  he  said,  ' '  probably  I  shall  not  see 
you  again  until  next  autumn,  when  I  come  back 
from  an  inspection  of  the  Alaskan  camps,  but  I 
don't  want  to  lose  track  of  you.  Write  to  me  here, 
at  the  Survey,  at  least  once  a  month,  and  they  will 
forward  my  letters.  I  will  not  add  anything  to 
what  the  President  has  said,  because  I  think  no 
more  is  needed,  but  I  will  say  that  if  you  make 
good  as  well  as  you  promise,  I  shall  be  glad  to  have 


22  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

you  in  my  party.  Not,"  he  added,  as  an  after 
thought,  "  because  of  your  scholarship  or  any 
friendships  you  may  possess,  but  because  I  think 
you  will  be  willing  to  work  hard  and  do  your  best. ' ' 

"  My  word,"  said  the  secretary  with  a  whistle, 
"  that's  a  lot — from  you." 

"It  is,"  answered  the  geologist,  shaking 
Roger's  hand  heartily,  and  leaving  the  boy  alone 
with  Mitchon. 

'  *  And  now,  Roger, ' '  said  the  latter,  * '  I  will  take 
you  where  you  can  begin  to  acquire  that  large 
stock  of  experience." 


CHAPTER  n 

A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT 

"  WHAT  do  you  think  of  a  man,"  said  Mitchon 
to  Roger,  as  they  started  for  Field's  office,  "  who 
can  transform  a  festering  tamarack  swamp  into 
a  busy  and  prosperous  farming  country?  ' 

"  He  must  be  a  daisy,"  answered  the  boy  em 
phatically. 

"  That's  what  Mr.  Field  has  done  in  the  last 
couple  of  years,  and  that's  what  you're  to  spend 
the  next  few  weeks  in  doing.  The  Survey  works 
for  results,  and  if  turning  square  mile  after  square 
mile  of  rankly  timbered  bog  into  a  fertile  region 
dotted  with  busy  homesteads  isn't  getting  results, 
I  don't  know  what  is." 

11  But  how  is  it  done?  " 

*  *  By  drainage,  my  boy,  as  you  will  learn.  Hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  acres  are  being  reclaimed. 
That's  what  makes  a  country  rich;  it  isn't  the  gold 
stored  in  vaults,  but  the  gold  waving  on  the  fields 
at  harvest  time. ' ' 

* '  But  it  must  take  an  awful  lot  of  work. ' ' 

23 


24  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  Of  course  it  takes  work.  Don't  you  remem 
ber  Mr.  Rivers  told  you  that  there  would  be  no 
chance  to  loaf?  You'll  start  on  that  toughening 
process  soon  enough,  all  right,  all  right." 

Turning  a  corner  of  a  hallway,  Mitchon  and  the 
boy  passed  into  a  small  office,  which  was  under 
going  the  throes  of  the  annual  tidying-up  before 
being  left  alone  all  through  the  summer. 

"  Mr.  Field,"  said  the  secretary,  as  he  entered, 
"  this  is  Roger  Doughty,  of  whom  I  was  speak 
ing  to  you,  who  is  to  go  out  with  you  for  a  couple 
of  weeks  until  Roberts  conies  back  from  the  tule 
swamps  and  rejoins  your  party.  You  will  have 
just  about  the  same  men  as  last  year,  will  you 
not?  " 

The  swamp  surveyor  extended  a  large  loose- 
jointed  hand  to  Roger. 

"  Glad  to  see  you,  Mr.  Doughty,"  he  said,  and 
then,  in  answer  to  the  secretary's  question,  con 
tinued,  "  I  hope  we  do  have  the  same  men,  Mr. 
Mitchon,  it  makes  the  work  a  lot  lighter. ' ' 

"  That's  what  you  all  say;  but  it  doesn't  make 
so  much  difference  to  you  as  it  does  to  the  parties 
away  off  from  civilization,  does  it?  ' 

"  Well,"  drawled  the  other,  "  Minnesota's  civi 
lization  in  that  swamp  country  doesn't  hurt  her 


A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT   25 

much  yet,  I  reckon.  When  you're  eleven  miles 
away  from  the  nearest  road,  and  that  only  a 
'  corduroy,'  in  a  swamp  over  which  you  can't 
take  a  horse,  and  through  which  you  can't  take 
a  boat,  you  begin  to  think  that  other  human  beings 
live  a  thundering  way  off.  Why,"  he  said,  "  I've 
seen  parts  of  that  swamp  so  soft  that  we'd  have  to 
make  a  sort  of  platform  of  brush  and  three  or  four 
of  us  pull  out  one  chap  who  had  sunk  below  his 
waist,  and  that  with  only  half  a  pack  instead  of  the 
full  load.  No,"  he  added,  turning  to  Eoger, 
"  Minnesota's  not  so  powerful  civilized  if  it  comes 
to  that!  " 

"  Why,  I  hadn't  any  idea  that  it  was  so  wild! 
Is  there  much  of  that  swamp  ?  ' '  asked  the  boy. 

"  Well,  the  little  piece  of  land  we're  working 
on  now  contains  about  2,500,000  acres." 

"  That's  the  Chippewa  land,  isn't  it!  "  asked 
the  secretary. 

11  Yes,  all  of  it." 

"  What's  Chippewa  land?  "  queried  Roger. 

"  It's  land  the  Chippewa  Indians  ceded  to  the 
government  to  be  held  in  trust  and  disposed  of 
for  their  own  benefit.  It 's  worth  just  about  noth 
ing  now,  but  when  the  land  is  all  drained  it'll  be 
a  mighty  valuable  section  of  the  State." 


26  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  I  saw  a  report  on  the  crops  from  some  of  that 
reclaimed  land,"  said  Mitchon,  "  and  it  certainly 
was  calculated  to  make  the  worked-out  Eastern 
farms  sit  up.  Well,  I  suppose  I  must  get  back,  so 
I'll  wish  you  good  luck,  Eoger,  if  I  don't  see  you 
again.  You  start  soon,  do  you  not,  Mr.  Field?  ' 

' l  To-morrow  morning. ' ' 

"  So  soon?   That  means  hustling." 

"  No,  Mr.  Mitchon,  everything's  ready,  I 
reckon. ' y 

"  Well,"  replied  the  other,  "  I  hope  you'll  have 
a  pleasant  summer,  and,  Eoger,  you  write  and  let 
me  know  how  you  like  it.  Good-by."  But  he  had 
hardly  gone  three  or  four  steps  from  the  door 
when  he  turned  back  suddenly  and  said,  ' '  By  the 
way,  Eoger,  there's  something  I  wish  you  would 
do  for  me." 

"  I'll  be  only  too  glad,  Mr.  Mitchon,  if  I  can," 
answered  the  boy  readily,  eager  to  show  his  appre 
ciation  of  his  friend's  kindness. 

11  That's  a  great  snipe  country  you're  going  to, 
and  I'm  very  fond  of  snipe.  I  wish  you  would 
send  me  a  couple  of  brace.  You  organize  a  snipe- 
shoot  while  Eoger 's  with  you,  won't  you,  Mr. 
Field?  " 

"  Well,  I'll  try,  anyway,"  answered  the  sur- 


A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT  27 

veyor,  "  and  we'll  do  the  best  we  can  to  give  you 
a  feast." 

Mitchon  nodded  and  disappeared  down  the  hall, 
and  Field  turned  to  the  boy. 

"  Roger,  your  name  is,  isn't  it?  "he  said. 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Mr.  Mitchon  seems  to  think  you're  quite  a 
shot." 

"  I've  done  a  little  shooting,  Mr.  Field,  but  I 
wouldn't  like  to  call  myself  a  crack  shot." 

11  That's  all  right.  Much  better  not  to  brag.  If 
Mr.  Mitchon  wants  snipe  we'll  go  out  some  night 
and  get  him  so  many  that  he  won't  know  what  to 
do  with  them." 

Eoger  's  eyes  glistened  at  the  thought  of  a  night 
shoot  in  a  country  where  birds  were  so  plentiful, 
and  he  began  to  congratulate  himself  that  the  Sur 
vey  was  just  as  good  as  he  had  expected,  and  even 
better. 

"  Now,  son,"  said  his  new  chief,  "  what  kind  of 
an  outfit  for  the  field  have  you  got?  ' 

The  boy  ran  rapidly  over  the  somewhat  elabo 
rate  stock  he  had  laid  in  for  rough  work,  and  when 
he  came  to  describe  the  various  shotguns  and  rifles 
with  which  he  was  provided  he  dwelt  on  them  in 
detail,  as  it  had  been  that  part  of  his  outfit  in  which 


28  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

he  had  taken  the  most  interest,  and  in  the  com 
pleteness  and  excellence  of  which  he  felt  great 
pride.  But  to  his  annoyance,  instead  of  seeming 
impressed,  the  older  man  chuckled. 

* '  You  Ve  got  shooting  irons  enough  for  a  regu 
lar  stage  brigand,"  he  said;  "  you  won't  need  all 
that  truck,  at  least  as  long  as  you're  with  me.  Take 
a  shotgun,  yes,  and  you  can  take  a  revolver  along 
if  you  want  to  very  much.  You've  been  thinking 
more  about  your  guns  than  you  have  about  your 
boots,  though,  and  you'd  better  go  down  and  get 
a  pair  of  river-drivers '  boots  this  afternoon.  Ones 
something  like  these. ' '  He  pulled  out  of  a  drawer 
a  special  catalogue,  and  opening  it,  passed  it  to 
Roger. 

"  I've  got  a  regular  pair  of  fisherman's  boots," 
volunteered  the  boy,  ' '  the  kind  that  come  'way  up 
to  the  hips.  I  should  think  they'd  be  just  the  thing 
for  swamp  work." 

The  surveyor  shook  his  head, 

"  No,"  he  said,  "  that  sort  of  thing  won't  do. 
Water  and  mud  will  get  in  those.  These  others 
lace  up  tightly.  Of  course  you'll  be  wet  higher  up 
most  of  the  time,  but  as  long  as  your  feet  are  tol 
erably  dry,  that  doesn't  matter.  Now  you  get 
those  and  do  anything  else  you  want," — then 


A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT    29 

handing  him  a  map — l '  you  'd  better  look  over  this 
too ;  and  meet  me  at  the  Union  Station  to-morrow 
morning  at  8  o'clock,  and  we'll  take  the  8.20  for 
Bed  Lake." 

The  trip  out  to  Minnesota  was  the  most  enjoy 
able  railroad  journey  Roger  had  ever  spent.  His 
leader  proved  as  entertaining  a  companion  as  a 
boy  need  ever  meet,  and  his  stories  of  the  wonders 
of  the  water  power  of  the  United  States  were  more 
fascinating  than  any  story  of  adventure. 

* '  I  was  out  in  the  dry  part  of  South  Dakota,  one 
time,"  he  said,  "  when  some  people,  knowing  that 
I  was  on  the  Survey,  asked  me  to  locate  an  artesian 
well  site  for  them.  That  was  a  dry  country,  I 
reckon.  Why,  the  little  water  that  was  there  was 
so  ashamed  of  itself  that  it  tasted  bad.  Well,  after 
I  had  studied  the  lay  of  the  land  for  some  time, 
I  told  them  where  to  sink  the  well.  It  was  an  un 
likely  looking  spot,  I'll  admit,  but  I  knew  there  was 
water  there  if  they  would  go  down  deep  enough." 

"  But  how  did  you  know,"  asked  Roger.  "  Did 
you  use  a  divining  rod?  " 

"I'm  not  a  seventh  son  of  a  seventh  son,"  said 
the  older  man  with  a  laugh.  "  No,  indeed,  that 
sort  of  thing  is  done  to-day  by  science,  not  by 
magic.  You  see,  Roger,  water  will  always  be 


30  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

found  in  large  quantities  in  porous  rocks  like  sand 
stones,  and  none  at  all  will  be  discovered  in  what 
are  called  impermeable  rocks  like  shale  and  lime 
stone." 

11  Why  not?  "  asked  the  boy,  interrupting. 

11  Because  a  porous  rock  is  like  a  sponge,  and 
will  hold  the  water,  and  an  impermeable  rock  isn't. 
So,  you  see,  if  a  thick  bed  of  shale  is  underlaid  by 
a  thick  bed  of  sandstone,  you  are  pretty  sure  of 
getting  water  if  you  drive  a  well  through  the 
shale." 

"  But  I  don't  see  how  that  helps,"  interjected 
Eoger ;  *  *  it  seems  to  me  it  would  be  as  hard  to  tell 
that  there  was  sandstone  so  far  below  ground  as  to 
tell  that  there  was  water  there.  You  can't  see 
through  rock!  " 

' '  No,  my  boy,  but  if  you  know  the  general  make 
up  of  the  country,  and  how  the  rocks  lie  in  the 
nearest  mountains  and  in  the  ravines  and  so  forth, 
you  can  tell.  For  example,  if  a  river  bed  has  been 
cut  through  the  upper  shale  to  the  sandstone  and 
through  the  standstone  to  some  other  rock  beneath, 
you  are  sure  to  find  that  sandstone  under  that 
shale  everywhere,  until  you  strike  a  place  where 
geology  will  show  that  there  has  been  some  other 
change.  In  this  particular  case,  the  sandstone  and 


A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT  31 

the  limestone  appear  in  successive  layers  in  the 
foothills  of  the  Rockies,  so  that  the  water  and  snow 
from  the  mountains  drains  into  the  sandstone 
layer,  which,  being  between  two  strata  of  harder 
rocks,  can't  sink  any  further  down,  but  must  force 
its  way  through  the  pores  of  that  sandstone  as  far 
as  the  stratum  runs.  Of  course  things  come  up  to 
complicate  that,  but  such  is  the  general  plan. 

"  Well,  as  I  was  saying,  the  spot  that  I  picked 
out  looked  so  little  like  water,  that  the  Burlington 
railroad  people — it  was  the  Burlington  that  had 
asked  me  about  it — called  in  Spearon,  who  really 
was  the  expert  on  the  work.  He's  an  expert  all 
right.  He  promptly  approved  the  site  I  had 
chosen,  and  told  them  to  go  down  and  they  would 
strike  good  water  at  3,000  feet.  At  first  they 
laughed  at  the  idea  of  any  man  being  able  to  guess 
at  the  existence  of  water,  3,000  feet  distant 
through  solid  rock,  but  they  knew  that  Survey 
statements  usually  are  to  be  depended  on  and  they 
began.  Some  water  was  struck  in  an  upper  layer, 
but  Spearon  told  them  to  go  on.  A  dozen  times  the 
railroad  was  about  to  give  up  the  project  as  use 
less,  but,  being  urged,  at  last  they  agreed  to  go 
down  the  3,000  feet,  but  not  an  inch  further.  At 
2,920  feet  they  struck  the  sandstone,  and  boring 


32  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

on  to  2,980  feet  they  struck  water,  and  so,  within 
twenty  feet  of  the  exact  depth  advised,  they  got  a 
well  flowing  half  a  million  gallons  daily  under  a 
pressure  of  75  pounds." 

"  A  couple  of  hundred  years  ago,  they  would 
have  burned  you  at  the  stake  for  a  wizard,"  com 
mented  the  boy. 

11  They  would,  son,  sure  enough.  But  people 
never  stop  to  think  how  important  this  very  water 
is.  Why,  it  is  by  far  the  most  valuable  mineral 
in  the  United  States!  ' 

"  More  so  than  gold!  ' 

' '  A  thousand  times !  More  than  coal,  too,  which 
is  vastly  more  valuable  than  gold.  The  coal's  go 
ing  to  give  out  some  day — by  the  way,  remind  me 
to  tell  you  what  the  Survey's  done  on  the  coal 
question  some  time.  I'd  tell  you  now,  but  there's 
a  man  who  got  on  at  the  last  stop  that  I  want  to 
see,"  and  with  a  nod,  Field  rambled  to  the  other 
end  of  the  car. 

With  stories  and  anecdotes  of  the  Survey  the 
time  passed  quickly,  and  Roger  felt  quite  sorry  the 
next  day  to  find  that  they  had  arrived  at  their  jour 
ney's  end.  At  the  depot,  a  small  frame  station, 
the  rest  of  the  members  of  the  party  awaited  them, 
with  a  big  lumbering  farm  wagon,  but  a  pair  of  the 


A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT  33 

finest  horses  Roger  had  ever  seen.  He  won  the 
heart  of  the  teamster  immediately  by  noticing 
them,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  he 
had  made  a  favorable  impression  on  his  future 
companions  for  the  next  few  weeks  by  evincing  a 
ready  knowledge  of  the  good  points  of  a  horse. 

The  drive  that  afternoon  through  the  upper 
Minnesota  country  was  Eoger's  first  experience 
of  a  corduroy  road,  that  abomination  of  highways, 
which  consists  merely  of  logs  laid  down  horizon 
tally  across  a  trail  and  some  dirt  and  sand  sifted 
on  top  of  them.  In  course  of  time,  the  dirt  all 
seeps  through  between  the  interstices  of  the  logs, 
and  the  latter  arrange  themselves  in  positions 
more  picturesque  than  comfortable;  which,  being 
ridden  over  in  a  springless  wagon  at  a  good  fast 
clip,  is  a  more  energetic  ' '  bump  the  bumps  ' '  than 
any  amusement  park  has  thought  of  inflicting  on  a 
suffering  public. 

Roger  was  thoroughly  tired  that  night,  though 
not  for  the  world  would  he  have  shown  it  before 
his  new-made  friends ;  still  he  found  much  ado  at 
supper  to  keep  his  eyes  open  and  his  head  from 
nodding,  when  suddenly  all  his  senses  were  gal 
vanized  into  activity  by  the  word  "  snipe." 

"  Boys,  I  promised  Mr.  Mitchon,"  Field  was 


34  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

saying,  ' '  that  we  would  have  a  snipe-shoot  just  as 
soon  as  we  were  able.  Now,  if  we  wait  until  we 
get  right  into  the  thick  of  the  work,  no  one  will 
want  to  knock  off.  Suppose  we  try  a  shoot  to 
night." 

"  Eight  you  are,"  "  Sure,"  "  Just  the  thing;" 
a  chorus  of  approval  came  from  the  members  of 
the  party  and  Roger  was  compelled  to  chime  in 
with  his  assent,  and,  what  was  harder,  to  force  an 
enthusiasm  which,  owing  to  his  fatigue,  he  did  not 
feel.  Only  one  dissenting  voice  was  heard,  that 
of  the  farmer  at  whose  house  they  were  to  put  up 
for  the  night. 

"  There  ain't  no  snipe  round  here,"  he  said, 
"  leastwise  not  this  time  of  year." 

"  Yes  there  are,  lots,"  answered  Field,  "  I  saw 
a  big  flight  of  them  as  we  drove  by  that  large 
slough  a  few  miles  out." 

Roger  thought  it  strange  that  the  farmer  should 
be  mistaken  about  the  bird  season  on  his  own 
farm,  but  surely  people  who  could  discover  a  flow 
ing  well  3,000  feet  below  the  ground  with  nothing 
to  show  where  it  was,  wouldn't  be  stopped  for  a 
few  snipe.  In  fact,  if  any  one  had  told  the  boy 
that  the  Survey  had  discovered  the  Fountain  of 
Perpetual  Youth  or  was  making  a  detailed  topo- 


A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT  35 

graphical  map  of  Mars  he  would  have  accepted 
the  statement  without  question  or  surprise. 

The  farmer's  muttered  objections  being  silenced 
by  the  united  voices  of  the  party,  the  plan  of 
operations  was  outlined  by  Field. 

"  You  see,  Eoger,"  he  said,  "  as  the  youngest 
of  the  party  you  are  always  the  guest  of  honor 
at  the  first  few  things  the  camp  gets  up,  and  so, 
as  I  promised,  we'll  let  you  have  the  best  of  the 
fun  to-night.  Remember,  though,  we  expect  you 
to  get  a  big  bag.  It's  a  good  dark  night  and  you 
ought  to  be  able  to  pick  out  a  whole  lot." 

"  But  I  don't  see  how  you  can  work  it  at  night," 
objected  Eoger.  "  Do  you  go  out  with  torches,  or 
how?  " 

"  We'll  show  you  how,  when  we  get  to  that 
slough  that  I  told  you  of.  Bring  that  best  gun  of 
yours  along,  and  we'll  post  you  right  where  the 
birds  will  come." 

There  was  a  sense  of  strangeness  about  the 
whole  affair  which  was  puzzling  to  Eoger,  but  he 
attributed  it  as  much  to  his  fatigue  as  to  any  other 
cause,  and  obediently  fetched  his  gun  out,  saw  that 
it  was  clean  and  in  good  order,  and  prepared  to 
accompany  the  party.  They  borrowed  a  light  rig 
from  the  farmer  and  started  out.  It  was  a  little 


36  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

after  nine  o'clock  when  they  left  the  house  and 
fairly  cold,  while,  as  one  of  the  men  remarked, 
11  It  was  as  dark  as  the  inside  of  an  empty  tar- 
barrel  with  the  bung  driven  in. ' ' 

They  drove  and  drove  for  what  seemed  to  Roger 
an  interminable  time,  though  he  could  not  help 
wondering  at  the  sudden  twists  and  turns  in  the 
road,  and  several  times,  by  the  scraping  of  the  un 
derbrush  against  the  body  of  the  rig,  he  knew  they 
were  on  no  road  at  all.  The  undergrowth  grew 
thicker  and  thicker  and  the  ground  more  and  more 
boggy,  when,  after  they  had  been  driving  for  at 
least  two  hours  and  Roger  had  fallen  into  a  light 
doze,  the  horses  were  pulled  up  with  a  jerk. 

"  Here  we  are,"  said  Field  loudly.  "  Tumble 
out,  boys." 

The  horses  had  been  stopped  at  the  very  edge  of 
an  immense  marsh,  that  looked  almost  like  a  lake 
in  the  dim  light,  but  that  its  margin  was  fringed 
with  reeds  and  bulrushes,  and  although  it  was  so 
early  in  the  year  a  scum  was  beginning  to  form. 
The  place  was  not  at  all  inviting,  and  Roger  felt 
well  satisfied  that  he  was  not  there  alone. 

*  *  Now,  son, ' '  said  Field,  lighting  a  large  lantern 
which  was  part  of  the  camp  outfit,  "  you  stay 
right  here  and  we  will  drive  the  horses  away  a 


A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT  37 

little  distance  so  that  the  possible  noise  of  their 
moving  about  restlessly  won't  disturb  the  birds, 
and  then  we  will  circle  the  slough  in  both  ways  and 
drive  the  birds  to  you.  You  see,  they  won't  rise 
at  night,  but  keep  to  the  ground,  and  if  we  start 
in  opposite  directions  from  the  other  side  of  the 
slough  all  the  birds  will  come  together  right  where 
you  are.  Then,  when  they  find  their  escape  cut 
off,  they'll  have  to  hit  the  water  or  else  take 
wing. ' ' 

"  But  it  will  be  pretty  hard  to  shoot  them,"  pro 
tested  Roger;  "  it's  almost  pitch-dark." 

"  They  won't  rise  until  they  come  into  the  circle 
of  light  shed  by  the  lantern,"  said  Field,  "  and 
then,  if  you're  quick,  you  can  get  them  as  they  rise. 
Now,  remember,  you've  got  to  keep  silent,  or  else, 
caught  between  two  fires,  they  will  scatter  back 
from  the  water ;  we  will  be  silent,  too,  so  as  not  to 
scare  them  too  much.  Keep  still,  and  don't  shoot 
until  the  snipe  begin  to  come  into  the  light. ' ' 

With  this  Field  jumped  into  the  rig,  and  a 
minute  or  two  later  Roger  heard  him  stop  the 
horses  and  speak  loudly  about  tying  them  to  a 
tree.  A  few  moments  later,  he  returned  with  one 
of  the  men. 

*  *  Harry  and  Jake  have  gone  round  to  the  south 


38  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

of  the  slough,"  he  said,  "  and  we  will  take  the 
other  side.  Now  remember,  not  a  move  until  the 
birds  begin  to  come.  Good  sport  to  you,"  and  they 
were  gone. 

Roger  sat  patiently  with  his  gun  across  his 
knees,  waiting  for  the  birds  to  come.  He  had  been 
sitting  perhaps  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  when  a 
very  faint  "  Coo-ee  "  was  heard  and  he  stiffened 
to  attention.  The  men,  he  thought,  must  be  begin 
ning  to  drive  the  birds  from  cover.  The  night 
wind  was  chill  on  the  edge  of  the  marsh,  and 
Eoger,  expecting  every  minute  that  the  birds 
would  begin  to  come  into  the  circle  of  light,  dared 
not  move.  His  left  foot  became  numb,  but  he  did 
not  rise  to  his  feet  until  the  numbness  became  un 
endurable,  and  then,  as  softly  and  silently  as  he 
could,  he  stood  up.  The  scene  was  even  more 
lonely,  viewed  standing  up.  There  was  not  a  light 
to  be  seen,  not  a  sound  to  be  heard,  save  the  hoarse 
croaking  of  the  frogs  and  the  booming  of  a  bittern 
in  the  far  distance. 

The  minutes  passed  into  hours,  until  it  became 
agony  to  refrain  from  sleep,  but  Koger  felt  that 
he  would  be  forever  disgraced  in  the  eyes  of  his 
comrades  if  he  were  found  asleep  at  his  post  on  the 
very  first  occasion  they  had  given  him  a  trial  of  en- 


A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT  39 

durance,  and  he  promised  himself  that  he  would 
stay  awake,  no  matter  what  it  cost  him. 

Then  a  faint  mist  began  to  wreathe  upwards 
from  the  lake  and  took  all  sorts  of  fantastic  shapes 
before  the  boy's  tired  eyes,  and  while,  for  a  little 
time,  it  afforded  him  occupation  to  watch  their 
curling  gyrations,  at  the  last  this  but  added  to  the 
dreariness  of  the  place.  Once  his  eyes  had  closed 
and  he  dozed  for  a  few  seconds,  when  he  was 
aroused,  and  not  only  aroused  but  startled,  by  the 
far-off  howl  of  a  wolf.  Roger  was  no  coward,  and 
had  all  the  boy's  contempt  for  the  coyote  of 
the  prairies,  but  he  was  woodsman  enough  to 
know  that  the  coyote  troubles  timbered  lands  but 
little,  and  that  the  call  was  from  the  throat  of  the 
dreaded  timber  wolf. 

What  would  not  the  boy  have  given  for  one  of 
his  rifles?  But  there  he  was  at  the  edge  of  a 
slough,  not  even  knowing  in  what  direction  he 
could  retreat  should  flight  prove  necessary,  with 
no  weapon  but  a  shotgun  loaded  with  small  bird- 
shot,  and  a  timber  wolf  prowling  near.  Once, 
indeed  he  thought  of  shooting  in  order  to  attract 
attention,  but  the  morbid  fear  of  being  thought 
timid  and  old-womanish  restrained  his  hand  from 
the  trigger. 


40  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Again  came  the  call,  clear  and  unmistakable 
this  time,  and  drawing  nearer.  All  the  wolf  stories 
that  he  had  read  beside  the  fire  at  home  rushed 
across  his  memory  now — the  Siberian  wolves  who 
chased  across  the  steppes  that  traveler  who  saved 
his  unworthy  life  by  sacrificing  to  the  beasts  suc 
cessively  the  three  children  intrusted  to  his  care; 
the  wolves  who  picked  clean  the  bones  of  all  the 
inhabitants  in  the  Siberian  village  who  refused 
to  help  escaping  prisoners;  the  were-wolf,  who, 
half-maiden  and  half-brute,  lives  on  the  blood  of 
men;  until,  in  spite  of  his  courage,  Roger  found 
himself  feeling  far  from  at  ease  and  deeply  wish 
ing  that  some  of  the  others  in  the  party  were  there 
to  keep  him  company. 

Again  the  wolf  howled,  a  long-drawn-out  howl 
with  a  little  "  yap  "  before  it.  Had  Roger  but 
known,  he  need  have  had  no  fear,  for  such  is  not 
the  call  of  an  angry  or  a  hungry  wolf,  but  merely 
the  cry  of  the  solitary  hunter  not  running  with 
the  pack.  A  wolf  after  his  prey  does  not  howl, 
but  gives  a  succession  of  short,  sharp  barks. 
Presently  the  boy  received  a  sensation  as  of  move 
ment  among  the  bushes  to  his  right.  He  looked 
intently,  but  could  see  nothing.  At  one  time,  in 
deed,  he  thought  he  could  discern  two  specks  of 


A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT  41 

light  that  might  have  been  the  eyes  of  the  in 
truder,  but  knowing  how  easily  the  eyesight  is  de 
ceived  when  it  is  being  strained,  and  also  having 
the  good  sense  of  not  making  matters  worse  by 
wounding  a  beast  he  feared  he  could  not  kill, 
Roger  contented  himself  by  keeping  a  lookout 
with  every  nerve  strung.  There  was  no  longer 
any  thought  of  the  snipe,  they  had  paled  into  in 
significance  before  what  appeared  to  be — although 
it  was  not — a  real  danger. 

So  Roger  stood,  watching  the  brush,  the  long 
night  through,  the  little  lamp  shedding  its  pale 
gleam  upon  the  ground  at  his  feet  and  glimmer 
ing  upon  the  waters  of  the  lake,  until  in  the  east 
the  first  gray  light  of  the  false  dawn  began  to 
appear.  Gradually  the  light  increased,  and  Roger 
with  a  sigh  of  relief  took  his  eyes  from  the  bush 
he  had  watched  anxiously  so  long.  As  the  day 
began  to  break  and  to  disperse  the  slight  mist, 
objects  in  the  distance  seemed  to  take  shape,  and 
Roger  could  hardly  believe  his  eyes  when  he  saw, 
but  a  few  hundred  yards  away,  the  very  house 
where  he  had  supped  the  night  before,  and  from 
which  he  had  been  taken  a  long  two-hours '  ride. 

In  a  moment  it  all  flashed  on  him,  the  old 
farmer's  incredulity  at  the  presence  of  snipe  at 


42  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

that  time  of  year,  the  readiness  to  put  the  new 
comer  in  the  place  of  honor,  the  unanimity  of  all 
the  members  of  the  party  in  falling  in  with  the 
chief's  suggestion,  the  folly  of  shooting  anything 
on  a  pitch-black  night,  and  he  saw  that  he  had 
been  hoaxed.  He  was  wet,  incredibly  weary  and 
stiff  from  the  strain,  and  Roger's  first  impulse 
was  that  of  intense  anger.  As  he  would  have 
phrased  it  himself,  he  was  * '  good  and  mad. ' '  The 
boy  soon  reflected,  however,  that  if  this  was  a 
regular  performance  on  the  tenderfoot — which  ap 
peared  probable  from  Mitchon  in  Washington 
having  been  in  the  game — a  good  deal  depended 
on  the  way  he  took  it.  They  would  expect  him 
to  be  angry  or  sulky.  Well,  he  would  disappoint 
them. 

Just  as  he  was  about  to  walk  into  the  barn, 
however,  where  he  proposed  to  have  a  nap  in  the 
straw,  who  should  meet  him  but  Field  and  another 
of  the  men!  They  greeted  him  with  a  shout  of 
laughter  and  satirical  queries  as  to  the  number  of 
snipe  he  had  shot.  Roger  schooled  himself  to 
laugh  in  reply. 

"  That  was  one  on  me,  all  right,"  he  said, 
11  but  this  is  only  my  second  day.  It's  your  turn 
now,  but  mine  will  come  some  other  time." 


A  TENDERFOOT  SNIPE-SHOOT  43 

The  chief  laughed  appreciatively. 

"  That's  the  right  way  to  take  it,  Roger,"  he 
said,  "  and  now  you'll  know  enough  not  to  go 
shooting  snipe  any  more  at  night,  I  reckon.  But, 
lad,  it's  early  yet,  and  we  won't  start  for  a  couple 
of  hours,  so  you  just  turn  in  and  we'll  call  you 
when  we  are  ready  to  go. ' ' 

"  I  won't  deny  that  I'll  be  glad  of  a  nap,"  said 
Eoger,  yawning,  "  and  I'm  mighty  glad  that  this 
part  of  my  initiation  is  over  with." 


CHAPTER  III 

FOOLING   A    RESCUE    PARTY 

EOGER  speedily  found  that  Field's  remark  to  the 
effect  that  the  "  snipe-shoot  "  had  better  take 
place  before  the  actual  work  started  was  really  a 
merciful  suggestion,  for  three  or  four  days  later, 
when  the  swamp  survey  was  in  progress,  the  boy 
found  himself  at  night  so  tired  that  he  would  not 
have  budged  from  the  camp  for  anything  smaller 
than  a  tiger.  He  was  no  mean  athlete  and  had 
been  accustomed  to  consider  himself  in  good  train 
ing,  but  after  a  day  in  the  marsh  the  muscles  of 
his  back  felt  as  though  he  had  been  lying  on  a 
corduroy  road  and  allowing  a  full-sized  steam 
roller  to  run  over  him. 

The  work  itself  was  not  so  hard  to  understand 
or  to  follow,  but  the  difficulties  of  the  nature  of  the 
ground  made  it  appear  to  him  almost  insurmount 
able.  Arising  early  in  the  morning,  about  half- 
past  five  o'clock,  he  found  himself  fully  ready  for 
breakfast,  which  was  duly  over  by  half-past  six, 
when  the  work  of  making  up  the  packs  began. 

44 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      45 

Each  man  in  the  party  was  supposed  to  carry 
a  pack,  all  the  properties  of  the  camp  being  di 
vided  up  into  equal  weights.  The  making  up  of 
these  was  a  source  of  no  small  anxiety,  as  the 
division  of  weight  made  a  lot  of  difference  in  the 
day's  march.  The  load  was  so  divided  that  it 
would  rest  upon  the  back,  just  below  the  neck, 
and  to  keep  it  in  place  a  broad  strap,  called  a 
"  tump-strap  "  was  passed  across  the  forehead. 
If  the  strap  was  a  little  long,  or  the  load  adjusted 
so  that  it  hung  too  far  down,  the  effect  was  to  jerk 
the  neck  back  until  it  seemed  that  it  would  snap 
off,  while  if  the  load  was  too  high  up  on  the 
neck,  in  order  to  distribute  the  weight  evenly 
the  bearer  would  have  to  bend  so  far  forward  that 
he  would  be  walking  almost  double. 

Sometimes,  though  not  often,  the  party  was 
able  to  proceed  straightaway  without  any  ax- 
work,  but  more  often  all  hands  had  to  set  to 
work,  clearing  away  underbrush  and  second 
growth  so  that  a  clear  distance  might  be  secured 
for  making  a  sight.  At  first  it  would  seem  that 
a  swamp  perforce  must  be  level,  and  in  such  a 
case  drainage  would  be  extremely  complex  and 
difficult,  but  in  the  Chippewa  swamps  there  is  a 
heavy  fall  toward  the  Red  Lake  River,  this  fall, 


46  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

however,  being  interrupted  by  numerous  small 
hog-backs  and  elevated  stretches  of  ground  which 
might  almost  be  called  islands. 

'  *  But,  Mr.  Field, ' '  said  Roger  to  his  chief,  when 
this  was  explained  to  him,  "  if  a  drainage  ditch 
were  cut  direct  from  the  highest  point  of  the 
marsh  to  the  Red  Lake  River,  would  not  all 
the  water  naturally  flow  into  it,  and  so 
drain  the  swamp  without  all  this  elaborate  sur 
veying?  " 

"  And  how  would  you  find  the  highest  point  or 
points  of  the  marsh,"  said  the  other,  smiling, 
11  without  a  survey?  You  see,  son,  this  swamp  is 
like  a  continent  on  a  small  scale.  It  has  its  moun 
tains  and  its  valleys,  its  plateaus  and  its  ravines, 
though  these  be  measured  in  inches  instead  of 
hundreds  of  feet.  Now,  if  this  ground  were  rocky, 
all  this  drainage  would  make  for  itself  a  network 
of  small  streams  and  flow  down  to  the  river,  but 
as  the  ground  is  naturally  spongy  the  water  has 
lain  instead  of  running,  and  therefore  has  not 
cut  any  channels.  Add  to  this  the  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  years'  deposit  of  rotting  vegetation, 
and  you  see  how  impossible  it  is  for  the  water  to 
do  what  would  naturally  be  expected,  that  is,  find 
its  own  level." 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      47 

"  But  it  must  flow  down  some  time,  surely," 
said  the  boy. 

"  The  overplus  does.  In  spring,  that  is  to  say 
in  early  spring,  right  after  the  snow  melts,  this 
whole  swamp  is  a  sheet  of  water,  even  worse 
than  it  is  now,  and  the  houses  on  the  higher 
grounds  are  on  islands,  the  farmers  going  to  and 
from  them  with  boats,  but  that  soon  runs  off  until 
it  reaches  the  level  of  complete  saturation,  in  other 
words,  a  bog  as  wet  as  it  can  hold.  Now,  what 
we  have  to  do,  is  to  trace  this  highest  point  or 
points,  such  as  you  spoke  of,  or,  to  speak  more 
correctly,  the  succession  of  the  lines  of  highest 
points,  a  very  crooked  series  of  lines,  and  find  out 
their  relation  each  to  the  other.  This  you  see, 
will  divide  up  the  swamp  into  several  drainage 
areas.  Then  each  of  these  areas  is  to  be  sur 
veyed  to  determine  the  line  of  drainage,  the  whole 
to  be  conformed  to  the  main  ditches  that  will  flow 
to  the  river,  and  this  intricate  network  of  ditches 
must  be  kept  at  just  the  exact  level  of  fall,  so  that 
it  will  flow  unencumbered  to  the  streams  on  either 
side  of  the  swamp." 

Roger  whistled  softly. 

"  That's  why  you've  got  to  go  over  every  foot 
of  the  country  so  carefully,"  he  said. 


48  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  Of  course.  If  it  wasn't  for  the  trees  and 
brush,  which  prevent  us  seeing  just  where  every 
little  rise  is,  it  would  be  comparatively  easy,  but 
unless  we  know  the  lie  of  the  ground,  we  might 
plan  a  ditch  just  on  the  wrong  side  of  a  ridge  of 
comparatively  solid  earth,  fwhich  would  divert 
the  entire  stream.  Of  course,  there's  a  pretty 
good  fall  to  the  river,  both  the  Mud  River  and 
the  Red  Lake  River,  but  even  so,  an  unobserved 
ridge  of  earth  a  few  feet  high,  running  along  for 
a  couple  of  miles  would  throw  out  the  value  of 
that  particular  ditch  and  create  the  cause  for  a 
new  drainage  area." 

"  I  see,"  said  the  boy,  "  and  I'm  very  glad 
you  told  me,  Mr.  Field,  because  it  did  look  to  me  as 
though  a  lot  of  this  exactness  was  unnecessary." 

11  We  do  nothing  unnecessary  on  the  Survey," 
came  the  prompt  response.  ' '  No  man  knows  bet 
ter  than  we  how  much  work  there  is  yet  to  be 
done." 

As  the  days  went  on  Roger  found  himself  be 
coming  quite  apt  at  the  pack  work,  and,  to  his 
great  delight,  found  his  muscles  hardening  under 
the  exercise  so  that  the  strain  was  not  so  great. 
Several  times  too,  and  this  gave  him  great  joy,  the 
chief  would  send  him  out  off  the  line  of  march, 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      49 

not  more  than  fifty  yards,  with  instructions  to 
report  on  the  nature  of  the  ground.  When  about 
that  distance,  well  within  earshot,  he  was  supposed 
to  ' '  Coo-ee  ' '  in  order  to  find  his  way  back  to  the 
party. 

It  chanced  one  afternoon,  right  after  the  short 
stop  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  that  Field  sent 
Roger  off,  to  the  right  of  the  party,  in  quite  dense 
timber,  and  told  him  not  to  go  further  than 
twenty-five  yards  away.  For  twenty  or  thirty  feet 
the  boy  hacked  manfully  through  the  underbrush, 
and  then,  to  his  delight,  came  across  a  smooth  piece 
of  marsh  overlaid  with  water.  Testing  carefully 
every  step  he  took,  the  lad  found  the  bottom  of  it 
less  like  a  morass  than  was  the  general  character 
of  the  swamp,  and  he  knew  enough  to  realize  that 
there  must  be  firm  ground  on  the  other  side. 
Knowing,  moreover,  that  a  piece  of  information 
such  as  this  would  be  of  great  assistance  he  ven 
tured  to  cross  the  stretch,  and  as  he  surmised, 
found  a  small  hog-back  on  the  further  shore  of 
the  shallow  lake.  This  ran  parallel,  so  far  as 
he  could  judge,  with  the  route  being  taken  by  the 
members  of  the  party,  and  Roger  conceived  the 
idea  of  following  along  this  line,  until  it  would 
be  time  for  him  to  rejoin  his  friends.  The  wood 


50  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

was  thick  on  the  ridge,  however,  and  Roger  found 
that  he  was  not  making  good  time,  so  after  go 
ing  half  a  mile  or  so,  he  decided  to  strike  across 
and  meet  the  rest  of  the  party. 

When  Roger  turned,  however,  he  found  that  he 
had  ceased  to  be  opposite  the  slough,  and  he 
plunged  into  a  dense  and  palpitating  quagmire, 
the  kind  against  which  he  had  been  specifically 
warned,  fairly  firm  on  the  surface,  but  which 
quivered  like  a  jelly  as  far  as  he  could  see  when 
he  stepped  upon  it.  None  the  less,  it  was  the  only 
way  the  boy  knew  to  rejoin  his  comrades,  so 
with  considerable  trepidation  he  stepped  upon 
the  edge.  It  held  him,  though  with  a  sort  of 
"  give  "  that  was  most  unpleasant.  Another 
step  he  took,  and  this  time  the  quag  seemed  to 
resent  his  intrusion;  large  black  bubbles  formed 
slowly  and  broke  a  few  inches  before  his  foot  and 
the  ground  seemed  to  heave  in  front  of  him.  The 
boy  realized  that  he  could  go  no  further,  but  for 
daring  and  curiosity  he  took  another  step  gin 
gerly  to  see  what  would  happen. 

He  learned !  As  the  foot  touched  the  ground  it 
sank  even  with  the  little  weight  that  he  threw  on 
it,  almost  to  the  depth  of  an  inch,  and  with  that 
slight  pressure  suddenly  the  suction  of  the  marsh 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      51 

gripped  him  as  though  some  foul  fiend  had  him  by 
the  heel,  and  he  threw  all  his  weight  back  on  his 
left  foot  in  an  endeavor  to  pull  out  the  right. 
But  this  disturbed  the  balance  of  his  poise,  and 
the  sudden  weight  on  the  one  foot  caused  it  to 
break  through  and  the  marsh  had  him  by  both 
feet.  The  pressure  was  so  fearful  that  Roger 
knew  shouting  was  useless,  he  would  be  deep  under 
the  quagmire  before  his  comrades  could  even  be 
gin  to  find  him. 

But  Field  had  not  instructed  Roger  for  nothing, 
and  the  lad  was  quick  of  thought.  Instantly  he 
threw  his  surveyor's  rod  down  so  that  one  end  was 
on  the  comparatively  dry  ground  whence  he  had 
stepped,  the  other  by  his  feet,  and  with  one  su 
preme  effort  he  threw  himself  flat  upon  the  rod, 
though  wrenching  his  ankle  cruelly  as  he  did  so. 
This  distribution  of  his  weight  over  so  much 
larger  a  plane  surface  prevented  his  further  sink 
ing,  but  the  suction  was  still  so  great  that  he  could 
not  draw  out  his  feet.  Finally,  by  exerting  all 
his  strength  he  freed  the  one  that  was  furthest  out, 
and  which  had  sunk  but  little,  but  he  was  held  a 
prisoner  by  the  other  foot.  Then  an  idea  occurred 
to  him.  Taking  his  ax,  he  chopped  the  ground 
around  his  leg,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 


52  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

water  bubble  up  in  its  place.  Little  by  little  he 
loosened  the  suction  of  the  bog  until  at  last  he 
was  able  to  pull  out  his  foot  and  crawl  along 
the  rod  to  the  bank,  where,  trembling  and  ex 
hausted,  and  suffering  considerable  pain  from  his 
wrenched  ankle,  he  sat  upon  a  projecting  root 
to  recover  his  breath  and  his  somewhat  shaken 
nerve. 

This  was  Roger's  first  experience  of  the  folly 
of  attempting  more  than  he  had  been  told  to  do, 
before  he  was  an  old  enough  hand  at  the  game  to 
know  the  greatness  of  the  risk.  As  soon  as  he 
had  in  part  recovered  himself,  he  shouted,  accord 
ing  to  agreement,  expecting  to  hear  immediately 
the  return  hail,  which  would  tell  him  exactly  where 
the  party  might  be.  But  there  was  no  answering 
cry !  A  little  startled  at  the  thought  that  he  might 
have  wandered  out  of  hearing  of  the  party,  Eoger 
waited  a  moment,  then,  making  a  megaphone  of 
his  hands,  let  out  a  stentorian  howl,  for  all  that  he 
was  worth.  But  the  cry  fell  stifled  in  the  dense 
branches  and  a  muffled  echo  was  the  only  response. 
Thinking  that  perhaps  a  whistle  would  sound 
further,  he  put  his  fingers  in  his  mouth  and 
whistled  long  and  shrill,  a  note  loud  enough,  it 
seemed  to  him,  to  be  heard  for  miles;  but  for  all 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      53 

the  token  of  human  answer,  it  might  have  been 
the  crying  of  the  curlew  above  the  marsh. 

By  this  time  Eoger  was  fully  alive  to  the  dif 
ficulties  that  confronted  him.  If  he  were  out  of 
reach  of  the  party,  and  could  not  make  himself 
heard,  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  trace  them, 
even  if  he  crossed  their  trail ;  unless  it  were  where 
they  had  been  making  a  sight  or  where  under 
growth  had  been  cut,  there  would  be  no  mark  of 
their  passage,  as  the  soft  ground  speedily  sucked 
in  all  trace  of  footsteps.  A  shot,  he  thought, 
would  travel  farther  than  the  voice,  and  so,  taking 
out  his  revolver,  the  boy  fired  three  times  in  the 
air.  He  strained  his  ears  eagerly,  though  fearing 
that  no  shot  would  answer,  but  when  the  minutes 
passed  by  he  knew  that  he  was  lost  and  that  he 
would  have  to  find  his  way  back  to  the  party  un 
aided. 

But  one  thing  remained  to  be  done.  He  must 
retrace  his  steps,  trusting  to  his  new-born  knowl 
edge  of  woodsmanship  to  lead  him  aright,  back  to 
the  place  where  he  had  gained  the  ridge  of  ground 
from  the  shallow  lake,  then  cross  that,  if  he  could 
remember  the  direction,  and  he  would  be  but 
twenty  yards  or  so  from  the  path  the  party  must 
have  traveled.  He  would  be  a  couple  of  hours 


54  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

behind  them,  of  course,  but  if  he  could  strike  their 
trail  he  was  bound  to  overtake  them  some  time 
that  night.  There  was  no  other  alternative,  he 
must  endeavor  to  find  them,  even  at  the  risk  of 
becoming  still  more  enmeshed  in  the  mazes  of  the 
swamp. 

Limping  back  over  the  ridge  of  ground,  his 
ankle  growing  sorer  each  step,  Roger  painfully 
wended  his  way  to  the  little  lake.  He  found  the 
ridge,  but  in  returning  it  appeared  to  divide  into 
twain  paths,  and  for  a  moment  his  heart  sank 
within  him ;  as  luck  would  have  it,  however,  he  re 
membered  seeing  a  tree  that  had  been  struck  by 
lightning  somewhere  about  where  he  then  was,  and 
he  determined  to  go  along  each  of  the  paths  until 
he  struck  the  tree.  Taking  the  left  hand,  at  ran 
dom,  he  hobbled  along  for  half  an  hour,  but  seeing 
no  blighted  tree,  retraced  his  way  and  took  the 
other  path.  Just  as  he  was  about  to  give  up  that 
route  also,  in  despair,  the  sentinel  tree  on  which 
he  had  been  building  loomed  up  before  him.  It 
was  the  first  sure  sign  that  he  was  on  the  right 
trail,  and  Roger  let  out  a  boyish  whoop  of  delight. 
Suddenly  he  thought  he  heard  an  answering  yell, 
and  he  called  again,  but  there  being  no  answer  lie 
felt  that  his  ears  had  deceived  him.  Soon  he  came 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      55 

to  the  banks  of  the  little  shallow  lake,  and  struck  in 
to  wade  across. 

It  then  became  evident  to  the  boy  that  he  had 
entered  the  lake  at  a  different  point,  for  while  it 
had  been  been  a  little  over  his  knees  at  the  deepest 
part  before,  now  it  came  to  his  thighs  and  was 
steadily  deepening.  In  the  middle  the  water  was 
almost  to  his  waist  and  the  boy  began  to  be 
alarmed  concerning  the  contents  of  his  pack,  which 
he  had  stuck  to  throughout  despite  the  pain  in  his 
foot.  But  while  the  water  came  to  within  six 
inches  of  the  pack  at  one  place,  the  bottom  re 
mained  fairly  hard,  and  presently  it  shallowed 
rapidly  and  Eoger  stood  upon  the  farther  shore. 

This  time,  however,  the  luck  which  seemed  to 
have  deserted  him  so  long,  returned,  for  he  found 
himself,  in  the  course  of  a  few  steps,  just  at  the 
place  where  the  brushwood  had  been  cut  recently 
for  the  making  of  a  sight,  and  the  boy  knew  that 
he  could  not  now  be  very  far  from  the  rest  of  tlie 
party.  He  followed  the  blazed  trail  as  rapidly  as 
his  somewhat  crippled  condition  would  permit, 
shouting  occasionally  as  he  did  so,  when  suddenly 
he  heard  voices.  Stopping  to  make  sure,  and 
hearing  speech  quite  distinctly,  he  hurried  on, 
coming  at  last  to  a  dense  dark  piece  of  the  wood 


56  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

through  which  a  path  had  been  hewn  with  some 
difficulty.  Another  two  minutes,  he  was  assured, 
would  bring  him  among  his  comrades,  when  he 
heard  the  voices  again,  and  what  they  said  made 
him  pause. 

"  It's  a  good  one  on  the  boy,"  said  one  of  the 
voices. 

Roger  knew  that  he  was  always  spoken  of  in 
camp  as  "  the  boy,"  and  he  thought  if  they  were 
planning  some  practical  joke  on  him,  like  the 
* '  snipe  shoot, ' '  over  which  they  had  never  ceased 
to  tease  him,  there  could  be  nothing  wrong  in 
listening  so  that  he  could  checkmate  it. 

"  He  must  be  quite  near  us,  now,"  replied  the 
other. 

"  Almost  as  near,"  said  the  first  speaker,  "  as 
he  was  when  he  first  thought  that  he  was  lost. 
That  was  an  awful  howl  he  gave,  the  second  one 
we  heard.  It  would  make  a  fair  sample  for  an  At 
lantic  liner's  foghorn." 

Both  men  laughed,  and  the  rich,  easy  voice  of 
the  chief  of  the  party  broke  in. 

"I'm  not  sorry  the  boy  got  a  scare,"  he  said: 
"  he's  all  right,  is  the  boy,  but  he  thinks  he  knows 
it  all.  They  all  do,  at  first.  I  told  him  not  to  go 
thirty  yards  away,  and  one  way  and  another 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      57 

he  must  have  gone  a  mile.  It's  a  good  thing  he 
paralleled  us,  or  somebody  would  have  had  to  go 
after  him." 

"  I  thought  sure  he'd  find  us  right  away  when 
David  called  back,"  said  the  first  speaker. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Field,  "  I  thought  so,  too.  But 
he  didn't,  you  see.  Now  let  him  learn  how  hard  it 
is  to  find  a  party  in  these  swamps  and  he'll  know 
better  next  time.  You've  got  the  location  of  his 
last  call,  haven't  you?  ' 

11  Sure!  "  said  one  of  the  men. 

"Oh-ho!"  thought  Eoger  to  himself.  "So 
that's  the  reason  I  got  no  answer  to  my  shouting 
and  my  shots.  They're  just  waiting  until  I  get  in 
to  guy  me  some  more."  He  sat  down  on  a  root 
and  thought  for  a  few  minutes.  Then  he  grinned, 
and  decided  to  bear  the  pain  in  his  ankle  a  few 
moments  longer.  Striking  off  sharply  from  the 
trail  that  had  been  cut,  he  wormed  his  way  up  and 
on  until  he  was  almost  opposite  the  party,  and 
directly  to  the  left;  then,  holding  a  bunch  of  grass 
over  his  mouth  to  give  the  muffled  sound  as  of 
great  distance,  he  gave  a  howl,  putting  into  it  as 
much  anguish  as  he  could  manage. 

As  he  expected  he  heard  the  sounds  of  work 
cease. 


58  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  The  young  idiot's  wandered  off  the  trail 
again, ' '  he  heard  David  say  to  the  chief. 

11  Well,  get  the  direction,"  was  the  answer,  with 
a  tinge  of  annoyance  this  time,  ' '  and  you  two  had 
better  go  after  him.  I  made  sure  from  his  last 
hail  that  he  was  right  by  the  camp. ' ' 

Roger  waggishly  nodded  his  head  in  the  direc 
tion  of  the  speaker. 

11  I  don't  envy  those  two  men  their  job,"  he  said 
in  an  undertone,  and,  doubling  on  his  tracks,  he 
came  back  to  the  trail  that  had  been  blazed.  Then 
circling  round  to  the  right,  so  as  to  be  in  the  op 
posite  direction  from  that  which  his  searchers  had 
taken,  he  quietly  made  his  way  past  the  working 
force  and  came  to  the  spot  where  the  cook  was  just 
making  preparations  for  dinner.  Unobserved,  he 
crept  quite  close  to  the  camp,  and  finding  a  con 
venient  spruce  with  widely  spreading  branches,  he 
climbed  up  some  fifteen  feet,  where  was  a  natural 
hammock  in  the  boughs,  and  lay  down,  taking  off 
the  boot  from  his  swollen  foot  and  awaited  what 
should  come. 

He  had  not  long  to  wait.  In  less  than  half  an 
hour  the  two  men  returned  stating  that  they  had 
found  some  signs  of  ax-work  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
last  hail,  but  that  they  had  called  and  called  and 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      59 

received  no  reply.     The  men  spoke  gravely  and 
one  of  them  said : 

I  i  I  hope  the  youngster  has  not  struck  a  quag !  ' ' 
The  leader  gave  an  impatient  exclamation. 

II  Well,"  he  said,  "  it's  our  own  fault  if  we  have 
any  trouble  finding  him,  but  he  has  been  within  a 
hundred  yards  of  the  camp  all  this  time  that  he 
has  been  making  such  a  fuss,  and  how  he  could  be 
such  an  ass  as  to  cross  our  trail  and  get  on  the 
other  side  of  it  without  noticing,  gets  me. ' ' 

Eoger  chuckled. 

."  You'll  find  it  harder  hunting  for  me  than  I  did 
for  you,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  and  perhaps  the 
laugh  won't  be  all  on  the  one  side." 

He  settled  himself  more  comfortably  in  the  tree 
and  listened  to  Field  giving  instructions  to  the 
members  of  the  party  how  they  should  separate 
and  circle  at  an  appointed  distance,  calling  every 
few  minutes  as  they  did  so. 

In  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  camp  was 
vacant  except  for  the  cook,  who  was  still  busy  pre 
paring  the  evening  meal.  That  was  the  only  part 
that  was  hard  to  Roger,  for  he  had  been  through  a 
good  deal  of  excitement  since  lunch  and  not  only 
was  tired,  but  also  very  hungry.  His  foot  was 
not  hurting  so  much  now  that  he  was  not  step- 


60  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

ping  on  it  and  with  his  boot  off,  although  it  had 
puffed  up  rapidly  after  the  removal  of  the  boot. 
But  to  be  up  in  the  branches  of  a  tree,  as  hungry 
as  a  wolf,  and  to  see  the  grub  below,  was  almost 
more  than  boy  nature  could  stand. 

Presently  the  cook,  having  laid  out  a  loaf  of 
bread  and  a  knuckle  of  ham,  picked  up  his  ax  and 
went  into  the  brush  to  get  a  little  more  dry  wood, 
which  was  somewhat  scarce  about  the  camp. 
Roger  slipped  down  from  the  tree  and  seized 
the  bread  and  ham.  Then  in  order  that  it  might 
not  be  suspected  who  had  done  it,  he  scrabbled  on 
the  tin  plate  with  some  mud,  and  in  the  stiffer  soil 
about — for  that  was  the  reason  it  had  been  chosen 
for  a  camp, — he  made  some  tracks  with  the  first, 
second,  and  third  knuckles  of  his  hand  and  the 
mark  of  his  thumb  knuckle  behind.  At  a  little 
distance  the  track  looked  almost  like  fox  tracks. 
By  stepping  carefully  on  tufts  of  grass  he  kept  the 
marks  of  his  own  feet  from  being  seen,  and  then, 
with  his  booty,  he  returned  to  the  tree. 

He  was  hardly  more  than  safely  esconced  among 
the  branches  when  the  cook  returned.  He  busied 
himself  about  the  fire  with  the  wood  that  he  had 
brought,  then  chancing  to  look  at  the  dish,  he  saw 
that  the  hambone  and  the  bread  had  gone.  The 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      61 

cook,  whose  language  was  that  of  a  woodsman, 
consigned  all  four-footed  thieves  to  perdition,  and 
then  bent  down  to  examine  the  tracks.  He  looked 
at  them  carefully  several  times  over,  then : 

"  I  sure  would  like  to  see  that  beast  critter,"  he 
said,  "  fer  that's  the  most  plumb  foolish  tracks  I 
ever  set  eyes  on.  It  must  be  fox — but  there  ain't 
no  foxes  in  this  kind  o'  country,  and,  anyhow,  the 
tracks  don't  mate." 

This  was  true,  for  Eoger  had  made  the  tracks, 
both  on  the  nigh  and  the  off  sides  with  the  fingers 
of  his  right  hand.  The  cook,  after  muttering  and 
grumbling  to  himself,  got  out  from  his  store  of 
provisions  enough  for  the  meal,  and  proceeded  to 
cook  the  same,  not  without  many  returns  to  the 
mysterious  tracks  and  comments  more  or  less 
audible  on  creatures  with  feet  like  that  who  were 
so  apt  at  thieving. 

Presently  two  of  the  party  came  in,  shaking 
their  heads  negatively  to  the  cook's  questioning 
gesture. 

"  Nary  a  sign,"  said  one  of  the  men,  "  he's  lost 
a  good  and  plenty." 

"  I  ain't  got  much  time  to  help,"  said  the  cook, 
"  though  I'll  go  out  with  you  after  supper.  But 
this  spot  has  got  me  locoed." 


62  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  How's  that?  "  asked  one. 

The  cook  pointed  to  the  tracks. 

"  I  used  to  think  I  knew  quite  some  about  ftie 
swamps,"  he  said,  "  I  was  born  with  an  ax  in 
my  hand,  pretty  near,  but  I  never  yet  saw 
any  critter  with  tracks  like  them.  An'  what's 
more,  I  ain't  never  been  informed  that  ham 
sandwiches  form  a  reg'lar  part  of  a  fox's 
menoo!  " 

One  of  the  men  bent  to  examine  the  tracks,  but 
the  other  said  airily: 

"  I'm  no  Seton-Thompson  on  the  tracks  ques 
tion.  Wait  till  David  comes,  he's  a  regular  na 
ture-faker  for  you.  Leave  him  alone  and  he  '11  tell 
a  tale  of  seeing  a  fox  do  the  honors  at  a  ten-course 
dinner  with  squirrels  popping  the  champagne 
corks." 

The  cook  laughed,  but  awaited  the  verdict  of  his 
comrade,  who,  after  a  prolonged  examination, 
straightened  himself,  and  remarked  soberly : 

"  That's  got  me!  You  say  the  hambone  and 
the  bread  were  clean  gone?  " 

"  Clean  as  a  whistle!  There  was  a  lot  of  mud 
on  the  dish,  and  that  was  all." 

"  Put  it  up  to  David,  or  Field.  Field  will  tell 
us  all  he  knows,  and  what's  more,  will  explain  why 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      63 

he  doesn't  know  the  rest;  but  David  will  put  up 
the  best  yarn." 

A  few  minutes  later  the  rest  of  the  party 
dropped  in  and  in  turn  expressed  surprise  and 
conjecture  about  the  confusing  marks  upon  the 
ground  until  all  were  back  except  David  and  the 
chief,  and  shortly  David  appeared. 

"  Where's  Field!  "  one  of  the  men  asked. 

"  He  stayed  behind  a  minute  or  two  for  some 
thing.  He  said  he  'd  be  right  along.  No, ' '  he  con 
tinued,  in  answer  to  a  question,  "  we  didn't  see 
anything  of  the  boy." 

"  Well,  it's  a  good  thing  you're  here,  anyway," 
said  the  cook,  i  l  for  we  Ve  been  waiting  for  you  to 
explain  a  mystery  that's  puzzled  the  whole  camp. 
You're  a  woodsman,  you  know,  and  it's  up  to  you 
to  tell  us." 

' '  All  right, ' '  said  David  with  a  confident  swag 
ger.  "  Trot  out  your  mystery." 

The  cook  led  him  to  where  the  tracks  were  vis 
ible  in  the  soil  and  related  to  him  the  theft  of  the 
hambone  and  the  bread,  concluding  with: 

' '  And  what  we  want  to  know  is — what  kind  of  a 
critter  made  them  tracks?  " 

David  stooped  down  for  a  few  seconds  and 
looked  at  the  marks  on  the  ground,  then  turned 


64  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

around  to  the  fellows  grouped  about  him,  and  said 
in  a  tone  of  scorn : 

"  You  don't  know  what  that  is?  " 

' '  No,  what  is  it  ?  "  responded  one  of  the  men. 

"  Well,  you're  a  pretty  lot  of  lumberjacks  not 
to  know  a  swamp  angel's  work  when  you  see 
one. ' ' 

"  Swamp  angel?  "  queried  the  cook  in  amaze 
ment. 

"  Swamp  angel,  of  course.  Yes,  why  not?  I 
suppose  ':  —this  in  a  tone  of  much  condescen 
sion — * '  you  have  heard  of  a  swamp  angel  ?  ' ' 

The  cook  grinned  at  him. 

"  You're  a  good  one,  David,  all  right,"  he  said. 
' '  Go  on,  tell  us  about  a  swamp  angel. ' ' 

"Why,  a  swamp  angel,"  said  David,  thinking 
rapidly,  "  is  a  cross  between  a  flying  squirrel  and 
a  flying  fox " 

1  '  With  a  strain  of  flying-fish  thrown  in.  Go  on, 
David,"  interrupted  one  of  the  men  with  a  laugh. 

"  It  lives  only  in  the  densest  kind  of  swamps," 
went  on  David,  ignoring  the  interruption,  "  and 
it  is  called  an  angel  because  it  can  fly  so  readily. 
Its  chief  characteristic  is  that  it  crosses  its  legs 
while  walking,  so  that  the  off  fore  and  hind  leg 
track  on  the  nigh  side  and  the  near  ones  on  the  off. 


FOOLING  A  RESCUE  PARTY      65 

That's  what  gives  the  tracks  that  peculiar  look 
you  noticed.  Its  usual  food 

"  Is  ham  sandwiches,"  broke  in  the  cook.  "  No, 
David,  I  guess  the  swamp  angel  yarn's  a  little 
strong.  Here  comes  the  chief;  we'll  see  what  he 
says  about  it." 

As  soon  as  Field  arrived  near  the  group  of  men, 
the  cook  started  in  to  tell  him  about  the  theft  of 
the  food,  but  the  chief  stopped  him. 

"  To  Texas  with  the  hambone,"  he  said;  "  we've 
got  no  time  to  waste  talking  about  trifles.  It's  up 
to  us  to  find  that  boy  without  delay.  I  hold  my 
self  to  blame  in  not  getting  after  him  sooner,  but 
his  last  hail,  it  seemed  to  me,  just  before  the  one 
I  sent  you  to  find  him  on,  was  only  a  few  yards 
from  the  camp.  How,  in  so  short  a  time,  he  could 
have  got  out  of  earshot,  is  a  thing  I  don't  under 
stand.  I  only  hope  he  hasn't  put  a  bullet  into 
himself  somewhere  with  that  pesky  little  gun  of 
his  while  he  was  firing  all  those  shots.  Get  busy 
at  the  grub,  boys,  because  if  we  don't  get  him  by 
the  time  it's  dark,  he  may  be  out  all  night,  and  I 
don't  want  that." 

"  He  can't  be  very  far  away,  Mr.  Field,"  said 
David. 

"  As  long  as  he's  out  of  reach,  it  doesn't  much 


66  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

matter  whether  he's  near  or  far.  But  he  must  be 
found,  if  it  takes  all  night." 

All  through  the  supper  the  men  discussed  plans 
for  the  finding  of  the  boy,  but  when  Roger  heard 
Field  tell  two  of  the  men  to  start  out  and  not  re 
turn  until  midnight  if  they  hadn't  found  the  lad 
before  then,  he  thought  it  was  time  to  bring  the 
jest  to  an  end.  He  parted  the  branches  over  the 
chief's  head  and  looked  down. 

Then,  suddenly,  the  men  gathered  around  the 
fire  heard  Roger's  voice,  saying  in  a  smooth  and 
sarcastic  manner : 

' '  I  was  never  called  an  angel  before,  not  even  a 
swamp  angel,  though  I'm  pretty  well  up  toward 
heaven  in  this  tree.  But  this  hambone  is  very  dry 
eating,  and  I  guess  I'll  come  down  for  the  butter 
and  the  mustard." 

"  You  blithering  idiot!  "  said  Field,  looking  up 
angrily,  though  there  was  evidently  a  great  relief 
in  his  voice, ' '  get  down  out  of  that. ' ' 

"  Oh,  very  well!  "  said  Roger  with  a  grin,  as 
he  descended  the  branches  of  the  tree.  Then, 
coming  into  the  circle,  he  added,  "  I  thought  I'd 
come  down  and  help  you  eat  that  snipe  that  Mr. 
Field  has  just  brought  in!  " 


CHAPTER  IV 

IN   THE   GIANT   TULE   SWAMPS 

FROM  the  time  that  Roger  fooled  the  members  of 
the  party  just  as  they  were  organizing  a  rescue 
search  for  him,  his  path  became  much  easier. 
Though  still  he  occasionally  made  mistakes,  as 
was  unavoidable,  he  found  they  were  condoned 
rather  than  exaggerated.  Indeed,  the  boy  realized 
that  he  was  no  longer  treated  as  a  tenderfoot,  as 
he  had  been  but  a  few  weeks  before,  but,  none  the 
less,  he  was  not  sorry  when  Field  told  him  one 
evening  that  he  thought  Roberts  would  be  along 
shortly. 

Roger  was  growing  weary  of  the  Minnesota 
work  because  it  was  evident  that  it  consisted  of 
the  same  routine  day  after  day,  that  it  was  un 
remittingly  hard  work,  and  that  the  sense  of 
progress  was  slow  in  proportion  to  the  labor  in 
volved.  Then  the  mosquitoes  were  beginning  to 
get  troublesome,  and  worst  of  all,  the  "  bulldog 
flies  "  began  to  make  their  presence  felt.  These 
large  horse-flies,  which  madden  cattle  and  drive 

67 


68  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

horses  to  distraction,  in  certain  parts  of  the 
marsh  were  ferocious  and  hungry  enough  to  attack 
men.  Roger  found  that  he  was  popular  with  them 
and  got  many  sharp  nips,  which,  though  in  no 
sense  dangerous,  were  irritating  and  painful. 

"  I  don't  want  to  seem  ungrateful,  Mr.  Field," 
he  said,  when  his  chief  broached  the  return  of  his 
former  co-laborer  to  him,  "  and  I'm  not,  but  Mr. 
Mitchon  seemed  to  think  that  I  would  only  stay  a 
few  weeks  here,  for  the  sake  of  the  experience  and 
to  get  the  hang  of  this  kind  of  work.  I  think  I 
have  gained  some  knowledge  of  it,  and,"  he 
laughed,  "  I  can  shoot  snipe  and  teach  swamp 
angels  to  steal  ham  sandwiches." 

The  chief  smiled  in  response. 

11  You  turned  the  tables  on  us  very  neatly  that 
time,  Roger,"  he  said,  "  and  you  really  had  me 
badly  worried,  because,  as  you  know  yourself, 
these  swamps  are  not  a  good  place  to  get  lost  in. 
I  reckon,  from  what  you've  told  me,  that  if  you 
had  walked  heedlessly  on  into  that  quag  without 
trying  to  test  it  step  by  step,  you  would  still  be 
there,  only  at  the  bottom  instead  of  the  top." 

11  I  really  believe  I  would,"  answered  the  boy 
seriously. 

"  If  you  stick  to  the  Survey,"  went  on  Field, 


IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS     69 

' '  and  come  to  be  the  head  of  a  party,  particularly 
in  wild  country,  you  will  see  how  necessary  it  is  to 
do  just  what  you're  told  instead  of  trying  to  run 
the  thing  your  own  way.  If  you  follow  instruc 
tions  and  anything  goes  wrong,  then  the  fault  be 
longs  to  the  head  of  the  party,  who  is  supposed  to 
have  enough  judgment  and  experience  to  know 
what  to  do  in  an  emergency.  What  could  have 
been  more  simple  than  to  go  twenty  or  thirty 
yards  farther  away  than  you  had  been  told,  just  as 
you  did,  for  instance,  and  yet,  if  you  had  not  been 
lucky,  you  would  have  disappeared  forever  in  that 
quagmire  and  by  your  death  spoiled  our  record." 

"  Have  many  lives  been  lost  in  Survey  work?  " 
asked  Roger. 

*  *  In  the  nearly  thirty  years  of  the  existence  of 
the  Geological  Survey,  as  a  separate  branch  of 
the  Department  of  the  Interior,"  replied  Field, 
"  during  which  time  explorations  of  the  most  ex 
treme  peril  have  been  undertaken,  only  one  life 
has  been  lost.  Really,  when  you  come  to  consider 
how  much  of  the  work  has  been  done  in  lands 
absolutely  unknown,  and  that  thousands  of  miles 
of  territory  have  been  covered  wherein  a  white 
man  had  never  before  set  his  foot,  this  is  nothing 
short  of  astounding." 


70  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  But  if  sickness  should  strike  a  camp?  " 
queried  the  boy. 

11  Hard  work,  clean  living,  good  judgment,  and 
the  open  air,  are  worth  all  the  drugs  we  know 
about  and  a  whole  lot  more  that  we  don't.  Of 
course  a  small  chest  of  certain  radical  remedies 
accompanies  each  party,  with  quinine  and  things 
like  that,  but  it  is  seldom  that  it  is  opened." 

"  But  how  about  accidents,  Mr.  Field?  " 

11  Such  as?  " 

"  Breaking  a  leg  by  a  fall,  or  something  like 
that,"  the  boy  responded. 

"  I  don't  see  what  business  any  man  on  the 
Survey  has  to  fall.  That  isn't  what  he 's  there  for. 
He's  there  not  to  fall.  Personally,  I  have  never 
had  any  accidents  which  would  need  other  than 
ordinary  attention,  nor  have  I  had  any  with  any 
members  of  my  party.  Then  an  injury  would 
have  to  be  pretty  bad,  any  way,  that  couldn't  wait 
until  some  kind  of  a  doctor  was  reached,  that  is 
unless  it  was  in  the  north  of  Alaska,  or  some  place 
like  that,  and  in  such  trips  a  little  surgical  case  is 
sent  along,  and  the  chief  would  do  as  well  as  he 
could  do  with  it." 

"  Then,"  said  Roger  with  a  short  laugh,  ''I'm 
just  as  glad  that  I'm  not  at  the  bottom  of  the 


IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS     71 

quag,  for  your  sake  as  well  as  my  own,  for  I 
should  hate  to  be  the  one  to  spoil  the  Survey's 
record." 

But  while  Roberts  was  expected  in  camp 
shortly,  a  couple  more  weeks  rolled  away  before 
the  party,  completing  its  line  through  a  very  dif 
ficult  piece  of  marsh,  headed  for  one  of  the  famous 
corduroy  roads  and  made  its  way  back  to  head 
quarters.  There,  with  one  of  the  farmer's  chil 
dren  on  his  knee  and  the  others  grouped  around 
him  sat  Roberts,  occupied  apparently  in  telling 
some  interesting  story  or  fairy  tale.  He  put  down 
the  youngster  and  shouted  as  the  party  hove  in 
sight. 

The  chief  was  delighted  without  question  to  see 
the  newcomer,  for  while  he  had  been  greatly 
pleased  with  Roger,  the  boy  could  not  be  expected 
to  be  as  valuable  as  an  experienced  man,  and  was 
not  to  be  depended  on  to  proceed  in  his  work  with 
out  instruction  and  supervision. 

"  I  was  looking  for  you  a  couple  of  weeks  ago, 
Mr.  Roberts,"  he  said. 

"  I  expected  to  be  here  earlier,  Mr.  Field," 
answered  the  other,  "  but  Mr.  Herold  asked  me  to 
put  in  a  few  days  in  that  Susquehanna  flow-meas 
urement  business,  and  that  put  me  back." 


72  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Eoger  looked  inquiringly  at  his  chief,  who  catch 
ing  his  look  of  question,  said, 

"Well,  son?  " 

"  I  would  like  to  ask,"  said  the  boy  hesitat 
ingly,  "  what  that  stream  flow-measurement  is 
for?  " 

Eoberts  looked  up  a  little  surprisedly,  but 
a  few  words  from  Fields  explained  the  situa 
tion,  and  the  newcomer  turned  to  Eoger  quite 
affably. 

' '  Certainly,  my  boy,  it 's  very  simple, ' '  he  said. 
"  You  see,  all  work  on  rivers,  whether  for  the 
purpose  of  irrigation,  flood  control,  or  navigation, 
is  dependent  on  the  amount  of  water  that  flows 
through  that  river  channel  every  year.  A  week 
of  wet  weather  makes  a  vast  difference  to  the 
amount  of  water  the  river  is  carrying,  and  a  dry 
spell  cuts  it  off." 

"  But  don't  springs  and  things  keep  the  water 
about  even?  "  queried  the  boy. 

"  No,  indeed,"  answered  his  informant  em 
phatically.  "  Why,  the  Tennessee  Eiver,  which  I 
worked  on  once,  for  three  months  never  flowed 
more  than  20,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  yet  that 
same  year,  for  fifteen  days  in  the  spring,  it  tore 
down  with  over  360,000  feet  a  second.  In  other 


Phottxjrapli  by  U.S.G.S. 

MEASURING  STREAM  FLOW. 

Trolley  line  one  mile  long",  over  an  Eastern  river.    Instruments 
pulled  up,  ready  for  return  to  the  bank. 


IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS     73 

words,  in  the  spring  it  was  as  big  as  eighteen 
rivers  its  usual  size." 

' i  Are  all  rivers  like  that  ?  ' ' 

"  Most  of  them.  You  see,  suppose  in  the  mid 
dle  of  summer  a  river  is  ten  feet  deep  with  a  three- 
mile  current,  in  the  autumn  is  only  four  feet  deep 
with  a  two-mile  current,  but  in  the  spring  floods 
goes  rushing  through  its  bed  forty  feet  deep  with 
a  ten-mile  current,  it  makes  a  mighty  difference  to 
the  towns  and  villages  all  the  way  along.  The 
destructiveness  of  a  flood  lies  in  the  top  few  feet 
of  water.  In  the  second  place,  the  navigation  of  a 
stream  can  only  be  estimated  by  its  lowest  depth 
recorded,  and  its  horse  power  in  the  same  way. 
But  this  same  river,  which  in  the  autumn  was  only 
four  feet  deep  and  developed  a  corresponding 
horse  power,  would  have  an  average  depth  of 
eight  feet  with  four  times  the  horse  power.  If 
then,  the  water  that  wastefully  and  ruinously 
flows  down  in  the  spring  is  conserved  all  through 
the  summer,  the  river  has  been  made  more  than 
four  times  as  valuable." 

11  And  how  is  this  done?  " 

"  That's  too  big  a  subject  to  take  up  now.  Still, 
you  can  understand  that  if  you  dam  the  stream 
high  up,  and  divert  all  the  water  over  a  certain 


74  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

height  into  immense  reservoirs,  the  water  could  be 
let  down  gradually  later.  But  that  all  depends  on 
the  measurement,  which  is  taken  daily  for  years, 
often — as  in  the  case  I  was  in — from  a  cable 
stretched  from  bank  to  bank,  from  which  a  little 
1  bos'un's  chair  '  is  hanging  on  a  pulley,  so  that 
sitting  in  this  little  framework  you  can  reach  up 
to  the  cable  and  pull  yourself  to  and  fro.  The  one 
over  the  Susquehanna,  where  I  was,  is  over  a  mile 
long,  and  of  course  it's  pretty  high  up  to  allow  for 
the  sag,  which  is  not  small  on  a  wire  of  that  im 
mense  span." 

Eoger  had  a  host  of  questions  to  ask  but  kept 
silent,  not  wanting  to  monopolize  the  talk  when 
older  men  were  there. 

* '  By  the  way,  Eoberts, ' '  asked  Field,  seeking  to 
change  the  subject  from  a  topic  which  was  stale 
to  all  the  members  of  the  party  except  Roger, 
"  how  did  you  like  the  work  in  the  lower  Sacra 
mento  Valley?  " 

"  Parts  of  it  weren't  so  bad,  Mr.  Field,"  was 
the  reply.  "  Indeed,  I  think  I've  struck  worse 
going  right  up  here  and  in  the  Mud  Lake  district, 
but  the  project  down  there  is  on  so  large  a  scale 
that  one  is  bound  to  become  enthusiastic  in  the 
work.  The  bush  is  very  dense,  of  course,  semi- 


IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS     75 

tropical  in  character,  but  where  the  growth  is 
heavy  the  swamp  is  not  so  bad,  so  that  it  becomes 
a  mere  question  of  bushwhacking.  Then,  too,  that 
southern  stuff  is  all  soft  to  cut  and  much  easier  to 
get  through.  The  tule  grass,  however,  is  dif 
ferent." 

11  I've  never  been  down  in  that  tule  grass,"  said 
one  of  the  party,  "is  it  as  bad  as  has  been  de 
scribed?  " 

11  It's  never  been  adequately  described  on 
paper,"  was  the  ready  answer.  "  Uncle  Sam 
wouldn't  let  the  report  go  through  the  mails." 

Eoger  grinned. 

'  *  But  what  is  it  like,  Mr.  Roberts  I  "  he  said. 

The  newcomer  thought  for  a  moment. 

"  It's  like  what  a  field  of  wheat  would  seem  to  a 
very  small  dog,"  he  answered.  "  It's  too  thick  to 
walk  through,  too  high  to  see  over,  and  as  stuffy 
as  a  tenement  house  with  all  the  windows  nailed 
down. ' ' 

"  How  do  you  manage  it  then,"  asked  the  boy. 
"  Do  you  go  on  stilts'?  ' 

"Stilts!"  ejaculated  the  surveyor.  "You'd 
have  to  be  an  opera  dancer  with  legs  about  twelve 
feet  long  to  manage  stilts  down  there.  And  even 
after  you  cut  it  down,  walking  on  the  stubble  is 


76  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

like  tramping  over  bayonet  blades  stuck  in  the 
ground  point  up.  No,  what  we  do  is  to  cut  a  sort 
of  trail  for  a  horse,  who  is  hitched  to  a  light  buck- 
board.  The  horse  goes  through  because  he's  got 
to,  and  the  buckboard  follows  unless  the  harness 
breaks." 

"  But  how  do  you  get  your  tripods  above  the 
rushes,"  said  the  chief,  "  for  you  surely  can't  cut 
lines  everywhere." 

11  We  don't.  The  legs  of  the  tripod  are  spliced 
to  sticks  long  enough  to  raise  them  above  the  grass ; 
and  the  topographer,  standing  sometimes  on  the 
body  of  the  buckboard,  sometimes  on  the  seat, 
works  with  his  nose  just  peering  above  the  giant 
rushes,  from  a  rod  of  extra  length,  deducting  from 
his  calculations  the  height  of  the  tripod  and  the 
buckboard  from  the  ground." 

"  And  is  it  dry!  " 

"  Mostly,  except  when  the  tide  comes  in  at  the 
lower  part.  At  least,  it's  not  soggy  wet,  like  it  is 
here.  It's  dead  sasy  to  get  lost  though,  and  you 
can't  see  any  landmarks.  You  could  chase  your 
own  back  hair  for  a  week  and  never  know  that  you 
were  going  in  a  circle. ' ' 

"  Apropos  of  getting  lost,  Eoberts,"  said  the 
older  man,  "  we  had  a  little  experience  with  the 


rhntoijraphs  by  U.S.G.S. 

DIFFICULTIES    OF    WORK. 

In  the  Giant  Tule  Swamps  in  the  Southern  Sacramento  Valley. 

The  umbrella  is  not  for  comfort,  but  to  keep 

the  sun  off  the  instrument. 


IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS     77 

lad  here  that  is  worth  repeating,"  and  beginning 
from  the  snipe-hunt,  he  related  the  entire  affair, 
showing  first  how  well  they  had  got  the  laugh  on 
the  tenderfoot,  and  how  he  had  got  back  in  return. 
Eoberts  laughed  long  and  heartily  at  the  picture 
conjured  up  of  Roger  sitting  in  the  boughs  above 
the  party,  hearing  them  discuss  plans  for  his 
rescue  and  heroically  resolving  to  leave  nothing 
undone  till  they  should  find  him. 

1 '  I  didn  't  fare  as  well  when  I  got  trapped  down 
there,"  he  commented,  "  and  while  I  suppose 
it  was  funny,  I  couldn't  see  the  joke  of  it 
myself. ' ' 

"  Was  that  in  the  tule  grass?  "  asked  Field. 
"  Tell  us  the  yarn." 

' '  I  think  I  told  you, ' '  began  the  new  assistant, 
11  how  hard  that  stuff  is  to  make  a  way  through, 
and  though  it  is  really  almost  as  tangled  as  this 
marsh  work  up  here,  the  ground  is  so  flat  that  far 
fewer  bench  marks  are  required.  We  had  taken 
a  long  sight,  because  there  was  a  sort  of  depres 
sion  at  that  point  which  we  wanted  to  delimit,  and 
I  was  quite  a  distance  from  the  plane  table.  Sud 
denly  I  felt  a  swish  of  water  at  my  feet,  my  first 
realization  that  the  tide  was  coming  in.  This  had 
often  happened  before,  and  the  water  usually  rose 


78  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

to  a  little  above  the  knee,  when,  as  soon  as  the  tide 
ebbed,  it  would  flow  out  and  leave  all  dry  again. 

11  Of  course  I  was  aware  that  I  was  working  in  a 
slight  depression,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  never 
occurred  to  me  that  this  would  make  any  especial 
difference.  I  was  surprised,  certainly,  at  the 
strength  of  the  tide  as  it  flowed  in,  and  I  remem 
ber  a  little  later  wondering  whether  it  was 
spring  tide  and  not  being  able  to  find  any  reason 
for  the  heavy  flow,  but  it  was  only  casually  that 
the  matter  occurred  to  me  at  all.  Few  minutes 
elapsed,  however,  before  I  realized  that  any 
greater  increase  of  depth  would  be  a  really  serious 
matter.  The  water  was  already  above  my  knees 
and  increasing  at  an  alarming  rate.  I  think  I 
have  shown  you  how  hard  it  is  to  get  through  that 
stuff,  and  to  cross  a  hundred  yards  of  tule  grass  is 
a  matter  of  half  an  hour's  work.  Still,  at  any 
moment,  I  thought  the  water  would  reach  its  maxi 
mum  and  I  felt  ashamed  to  start  back  after  all  the 
labor  of  reaching  the  point  where  I  then  was. 

* '  Of  course  I  am  not  usually  the  tallest  man  in 
the  party  [the  speaker  was  not  more  than  five  feet 
six  or  seven]  and  the  boys  used  to  joke  me  about 
my  height.  I  knew  they  would  roast  me  to  a  turn 
if  I  had  to  let  on  that  I  was  afraid  of  being 


IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS    79 

drowned  in  a  few  feet  of  water.  So  I  held  on. 
But  the  water  had  crept  up  rapidly  until  it  was 
well  above  my  waist,  and  I  determined,  jesting  or 
no  jesting,  that  I  was  going  to  strike  for  higher 
ground,  or,  if  possible,  get  as  far  as  the  buckboard. 
The  other  fellows  couldn't  see  the  trouble  I  was 
in  because  they  were  on  a  little  crest  of  ground, 
and  because  the  waving  tule  grass  shut  off  all 
sight  of  the  water. 

"  What's  wrong?  "  I  heard  one  of  them  shout, 
as  I  started  back,  but  I  didn't  want  them  to  get  the 
laugh  on  me  too  soon,  and  I  was  coming  back 
through  that  sodden  grass  just  as  rapidly  as  I 
could  make  arms  and  legs  go.  Well,  sir,  I  sup 
pose  that  tide  came  in  slowly,  but  it  seemed  to  me 
as  though  I  could  see  it  creep  up  my  shirt  inch  by 
inch,  and  I  had  hardly  got  half  the  distance  be 
fore  it  was  up  to  my  shoulders.  I  thought  it  was 
time  then  to  let  the  boys  know  what  was  up,  so  I 
shouted : 

"  '  Bring  the  buckboard  here,  fellows,  or  I'll  be 
drowned  in  this  infernal  grass !  ' 

11  i  Drowned?  '  I  heard  one  of  the  men  say 
questioningly,  then  immediately  after,  '  By  Jove, 
he's  caught  with  the  tide  down  in  that  low  spot.' 

"  But  of  course  they  couldn't  bring  the  buck- 


8o  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

board  because  the  horse  couldn't  go  through  un 
less  a  path  had  been  cut,  and  they  couldn't  very 
well  cut  a  path,  for  the  reason  that  in  doing  so 
they  would  have  to  stoop,  bringing  their  heads 
under  water,  to  say  nothing  of  the  difficulty  of 
swinging  an  ax  in  the  water.  It  looked  pretty 
bad  for  me,  but  I  thought  it  likely  that  Shriveter, 
one  of  the  party,  who  was  over  six  feet,  would 
come  to  my  aid,  and  six  inches  more  of  height 
made  a  considerable  difference  of  time  in  the  up- 
creeping  of  the  water.  Then  I  saw  the  chief  pull 
out  his  watch  and  speak  to  the  rest  of  the  boys, 
and  they  began  to  laugh.  I  was  about  thirty 
yards  away  by  this  time  and  could  hear  them  laugh 
quite  distinctly.  It  made  me  as  mad  as  a  hatter, 
for  the  water  was  up  to  my  chin. 

"  '  It  may  be  deucedly  funny  to  you,'  I  called 
out,  '  but  you  might  come  and  help  a  fellow!  ' 
But  they  only  laughed  the  harder  and  it  made  me 
sore.  Can  you  imagine  what  it's  like  plowing 
through  that  infernal  grass  with  water  up  to  your 
chin?  You  can't  stoop  your  shoulder  to  push 
yourself  through,  because,  if  you  do,  a  mouthful 
of  salt  water  comes  to  your  share ;  all  your  clothes 
are  sopping  wet  and  heavy ;  the  ground  under  your 
feet  has  become  slimy  and  hard  to  walk  on  and 


IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS     81 

the  blades  of  grass  are  sodden  and  almost  beyond 
a  man's  power  to  move.  I  found  it  harder  work 
to  make  a  five-yard  line  through  that  mixture  of 
tule  grass  and  tidewater  than  Harvard  ever  did 
on  the  gridiron  against  Yale." 

"  Easy,  old  man,"  said  Field,  "I'm  Yale!  " 

"  I  know  you  are,"  grinned  the  other,  "  that's 
just  why  I  said  it.  But,  as  I  was  telling  you,  it 
sure  was  a  man's  job  to  fight  through  that  stuff 
yard  by  yard,  and  the  salt  water  was  just  about 
level  with  my  lips,  so  that  when  I  wanted  a  breath 
I  had  to  give  a  little  jump  and  breathe  before  I 
came  down.  And  those  beasts  on  the  buckboard 
were  simply  howling  with  laughter. 

"  '  Look  at  the  human  jumping- j ack !  '  I  heard 
one  of  them  say,  imitating  the  voice  and  manner  of 
a  sideshow  barker,  ;  The  only  original  half-man, 
half-frog,  in  the  world.  See  him  hop !  One  hop 
is  worth  the  money!  '  I  tell  you  what,"  added 
Roberts,  laughing  in  unison  with  the  rest,  at  the 
picture  he  had  conjured  up,  "  I  was  just  about 
hot  enough  under  the  collar  to  have  ducked  every 
one  of  those  grinning  oafs." 

"  But  did  you  really  think  you  were  going  to  be 
drowned,  Mr.  Roberts?  "  asked  Roger. 

"  I  suppose  if  I  had  stopped  to  think,  my  boy," 


82  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

was  the  immediate  response,  "  I  would  have 
known  that  the  other  chaps  would  have  got  hold  of 
me  long  before  that,  but  I  felt  more  than  half 
way  drowned  as  it  was,  hardly  able  to  advance  a 
step  nearer  safety,  and  only  succeeding  in  getting 
breath  by  jumping  up  and  down  as  if  I  was  on 
a  skipping  rope.  But  when  I  thought  I  would 
have  to  give  out,  paying  no  attention  to  the  jocose 
suggestions  of  the  fellows,  such  as  *  Get  a  bal 
loon!  ' '  Talk  about  a  grasshopper!  '  *  Look  who's 
here,  there's  spring-heeled  Jack  on  the  trail !  '  and 
so  forth,  and  when  my  strength  was  nearly  at  an 
end,  it  seemed  to  me  either  that  I  had  reached  a 
little  hillock  or  that  the  water  was  receding.  I 
stood  still,  and  found  that  by  throwing  my  head 
back  I  could  just  breathe  without  making  any  wild 
gymnastics,  and  I  thought  it  a  good  time  to  take 
a  breathing  space.  In  a  few  moments  I  saw  that 
the  water  really  was  receding  and  half  an  hour 
later  I  made  my  way  to  the  buckboard,  where  all 
the  boys  had  gathered  and  were  sitting  smoking, 
watching  my  frantic  efforts. 

"  '  You're  a  precious  lot,'  I  said  to  them,  as  I 
clambered  up  out  of  the  wet,  '  to  let  a  fellow  half 
drown  without  coming  to  help  him.  I  might  have 
gone  under  out  there  for  all  you  cared. '  Oh,  I  was 


Photograph  by  U.S.G.K. 

DENSE  SOUTHERN  PALM  GROVK. 

Through  this  lines  must  be  cut  to  establish  Survey  points, 

showing-  wide  range  of  territory  with  which  a 

topographer  must  be  familiar. 


IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS     83 

mighty  sore  about  it,  and  I  didn't  care  if  they 
knew  it. 

11  But  the  chief,  who  had  been  laughing  as 
heartily  as  any,  said:  '  Roberts,  you  know  per 
fectly  well  that  we  would  have  come  after  you  if 
there  had  been  any  danger.  But  I  looked  at  my 
watch  and  saw  that  it  was  full  time  for  the  tide  to 
turn,  so  that  you  really  stood  in  no  such  awful 
peril  as  you  seemed  to  think.' 

"  '  That's  all  very  well,'  I  answered,  *  but  how 
was  I  to  know  it?  ' 

' '  '  That  was  just  the  sport  of  it, '  he  said ;  '  you 
didn't  know  it,  and  we  did.  And  you  would  have 
died  laughing  if  you  could  have  heard  yourself, 
1  Schriveter  (gurgle,  gurgle),  you  lanky  galoot 
(gurgle,  gurgle),  come  and  give  me  a  hand  (gur 
gle,  gurgle),  instead  of  sitting  there  (gurgle, 
gurgle),  like  an  Indian  cigar  sign  (gurgle).'  I 
don't  know  just  how  Schriveter  felt,  but  so  far 
as  I  am  concerned,  I  was  so  tired  from  laughing 
that  I  nearly  fell  out  of  the  rig. '  I  suppose  really 
the  chief  was  right,  knowing  that  the  water  would 
not  come  any  higher,  but  then  I  didn't  know,  and  it 
wasn't  any  too  pleasant  a  feeling." 

' '  By  the  way, ' '  continued  Roberts,  when  he  had 
finished  his  story,  and  other  members  of  the  party 


84  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

had  added  their  mite  of  comment,  approval,  or 
equivalent  yarn,  ' '  Mr.  Field  tells  me  that  you  are 
new  on  the  Survey.  I  suppose  your  name  is 
Doughty,  then!  " 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Eoberts,"  answered  Roger,  sur 
prised  that  this  man,  who  was  almost  a  complete 
stranger  to  him,  should  know  his  name. 

"  Mr.  Herold  told  me  that  I  should  find  you 
here, ' '  he  said, ' '  and  he  asked  me  to  give  you  this 
letter.  He  told  me  what  was  in  it,"  added  the 
new  arrival  with  a  smile,  "  and  I  think  it  should 
please  you." 

Roger  took  with  eagerness  the  long  official 
envelope  handed  him  by  Roberts,  his  first  letter  of 
instructions  since  he  became  a  member  of  the  Sur 
vey,  and  found  therein  a  brief  order,  requiring 
him  to  report  at  the  El  Tovar  Hotel,  Grand  Can 
yon,  Ariz.,  on  the  first  day  of  the  month  following. 
The  same  envelope  contained,  moreover,  a  per 
sonal  letter  from  Mitchon,  in  which,  though  of 
course  no  official  recognition  could  be  made,  was 
a  phrase  worded  in  such  wise  as  to  show  that  the 
boy  had  been  well  spoken  of  by  Field,  and  that  this 
new  appointment  was  due  to  satisfaction  with  his 
first  few  weeks  on  the  Survey.  The  lad  colored 
with  pleasure  as  he  read  it. 


IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS     85 

"  I  suppose,  Roger,"  said  Field,  when  the  boy 
folded  the  two  letters  and  put  them  back  into  the 
envelope,  "  that  letter  means  that  you  are  going 
to  leave  us?  " 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Field,"  answered  the  boy,  "  I  don't 
know  just  when  I  am  supposed  to  leave,  but 

I  am  ordered  to  report  in  Arizona  on  the  first  of 
June." 

"  Going  on  the  desert  work?  "  queried  the  chief. 
"  My  word,  Mr.  Herold  wants  to  give  you  pretty 
sharp  contrasts !  ' 

' '  I  think  it  must  be  somewhere  about  the  Grand 
Canyon,"  answered  the  boy,  his  eyes  sparkling 
with  the  thought  of  seeing  that  wonder  of  Amer 
ica,  which  he  had  so  ardently  desired  to  visit. 

II  At  least,  I  am  told  to  report  at  a  place  called 
Grand  Canyon." 

Roberts  nodded. 

"  That's  right?  son,"  he  said.  "  Grand  Canyon 
is  the  tourist  station  for  seeing  the  Colorado  River 
gorge  at  its  best. ' ' 

"  To  whom  do  you  report?  "  asked  Field,  "  to 
Masseth?  " 

' '  Yes,  Mr.  Field,  that  was  the  name, ' '  answered 
the  boy. 

"  Isn't  that  the  man  who  did  such  clinking  good 


86  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

work  in  the  Little  Colorado  country?  "  asked 
Roberts. 

"  That's  the  man,"  replied  Field.  "  You 
couldn't  be  under  a  better  leader,"  he  added,  turn 
ing  to  the  boy,  "  but  you've  got  to  keep  both  eyes 
and  both  ears  wide  open  with  him,  for  he  has  a 
knack  of  expecting  every  one  with  him  to  know 
every  thing.  He'll  teach  you  to  think  quickly,  all 
right." 

11  Well,  my  present  chief "  began  the  boy 

gratefully,  but  Field  waved  his  hand  petulantly. 

"  Cut  that  sort  of  thing  out,"  he  interrupted. 
"  Any  man  will  get  along  if  he  tries  to  do  his 
work.  But,"  he  warned  smilingly,  "  I  don't 
know  that  it's  such  good  discipline  to  play  prac 
tical  jokes  on  the  head  of  the  party.  They  might 
not  all  take  it  kindly." 

11  I  had  a  letter  from  Mr.  Mitchon,"  retorted 
the  boy,  ' '  in  which  he  bids  me  thank  you  for  the 
snipe.  He  said  they  were  much  appreciated  in 
the  office.  He  writes  awfully  nicely. ' ' 

11  That  snipe's  an  old  joke  on  the  Survey," 
answered  Field,  "  indeed,  it's  pretty  well  known 
all  over  the  West,  but  seeing  that  it  was  new  to 
you,  Mr.  Mitchon  wanted  to  enjoy  the  fun. ' ' 

"  I  never  met  Mitchon  until  this  last  time  I 


IN  THE  GIANT  TULE  SWAMPS     87 

went  to  Washington,"  put  in  Roberts  thought 
fully,  "  but  I  liked  him  very  much." 

"  I  had  a  little  experience  with  Mitchon  once," 
put  in  David,  who  had  been  listening,  "  and  I 
found  him  white  clear  through. ' ' 

"  Mitchon 's  all  right!  "  said  Field. 

"  You  bet!  "  affirmed  the  boy. 

"  Well,"  commented  Roberts  with  a  laugh, 
"  that's  a  good  enough  epitaph  for  any  man. 
Mitchon 's  a  long  way  from  being  dead,  and  I 
guess  no  one's  particularly  anxious  to  start  carv 
ing  a  tombstone,  but  at  that,  I  guess  he'd  be 
satisfied  with  such  a  general  opinion." 


CHAPTER  V 

PEBIL  IN   THE   GRAND   CANYON 

EXCITED  and  expectant  travelers  were  many  on 
the  Santa  Fe  railroad,  but  Eoger  felt  that  he 
had  never  met  a  more  enthusiastic  group  than 
those  who  dined  at  the  long  low  mission-like  hotel 
Fray  Marcos  at  Williams,  Ariz.,  waiting  for  the 
train  to  Grand  Canyon.  And  of  all  these  none 
had  been  more  a-tingle  with  anticipation  than  the 
boy,  as  the  train,  passing  by  the  station  of  Hopi — 
the  very  name  recording  that  strange  tribe  of 
Arizona  Indians — ran  through  Apex  and  began 
to  slow  up  for  the  last  stop. 

Throughout  the  past  two  or  three  hours  of  the 
trip,  all  the  passengers  had  been  speaking  of  the 
great  sights  that  awaited  them,  and  guidebooks 
and  photograph  collections  without  number  had 
been  scanned,  bringing  interest  to  fever  heat.  But 
in  spite  of  all  this  preparatory  ardor,  those  who 
had  visited  the  Grand  Canyon  before  and  those 
whose  friends  had  done  so,  bore  testimony  to  the 
universal  belief  that  nothing,  no  estimate  of  the 

88 


PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON    89 

wonders  of  that  land,  however  extravagant,  could 
discount  the  reality. 

It  was  a  little  after  four  o'clock  on  the  after 
noon  of  the  last  day  in  May  as  the  train  drew  into 
the  station,  and  guides  met  the  passengers  ready 
to  conduct  them  direct  to  the  brink  of  the  Canyon 
that  they  might  gain  their  first  sight  of  it.  Roger 's 
very  toes  were  aching  with  the  desire  to  follow 
them,  particularly  as  he  was  not  on  duty  until  the 
following  day,  but  still  he  felt  that  he  was  on  gov 
ernment  service  and  that  he  ought  to  report  for 
duty  at  the  appointed  place  immediately  on  his 
arrival.  Then,  the  boy  argued,  should  there  be 
no  one  to  meet  him,  his  time  would  be  his  own 
until  the  following  morning,  and  he  could  enjoy 
the  pleasures  of  sight-seeing  without  feeling  that 
he  had  in  any  way  been  neglectful  of  the  strictest 
interpretation  of  his  orders.  His  trunk  had  been 
checked  through,  so  Roger,  refusing  the  solici 
tations  of  the  guides,  picked  up  the  small  hand 
grip  he  had  carried  for  the  necessities  of  the  jour 
ney  and  set  his  face  resolutely  to  the  hotel. 

Turning  to  view  the  country  about  him,  Eoger 
was  as  much  disappointed  as  amazed  to  find  how 
flat  and  uninteresting  it  seemed.  Indeed,  there 
was  nothing  in  the  region  to  suggest  that  a  canyon 


90  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

was  anywhere  in  the  vicinity.  So  far  as  he  could 
see,  on  either  side  of  the  railroad  track  up  which 
he  had  come  was  a  level  treeless  prairie,  and  in 
the  direction  whither  the  tourists  had  gone,  there 
was  naught  to  be  seen  but  this  same  slowly  rising 
plateau,  which,  a  little  further  on,  seemed  to  be 
bounded  by  a  slight  rise.  The  boy  knew  that  the 
Canyon  must  be  on  the  other  side  of  this  eminence, 
but  there  was  nothing  to  bespeak  its  presence,  not 
a  sign  to  awake  the  consciousness  that  a  few 
hundred  yards  away  lay  a  view  of  the  greatest 
scenic  wonder  that  any  man  had  beheld,  primitive 
and  untouched  as  since  the  days  that  antedilu 
vian  monsters  roamed  the  plains  whereon  he  now 
was  walking. 

When  he  arrived  at  the  hotel,  Eoger  walked 
straight  to  the  desk. 

"  Is  Mr.  Masseth  here?  "  he  asked  the  clerk. 

The  latter,  a  being  largely  characterized  by 
shirt  front,  gestured  the  boy  to  a  slightly  built 
man,  sitting  in  the  rotunda  of  the  hotel  reading 
a  newspaper  with  an  intensity  of  concentration 
which  Eoger  immediately  conceived  to  be  typical 
of  the  man.  He  turned  instantly  at  the  boy's  ap 
proach,  however. 

"  Mr.  Masseth?  "  queried  the  lad. 


PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON    91 

The  reader  rose  with  a  quick  though  courteous 
motion  of  assent. 

"  I  was  told  to  give  this  letter  to  you,"  the  boy 
continued.  "  I  understand  it  contains  my  in 
structions  to  report  to  you.  My  name  is  Roger 
Doughty. ' ' 

"  I  am  extremely  pleased,"  said  the  older  man 
with  a  slight  foreign  timbre  in  his  voice,  "  to  be 
able  to  welcome  you.  I  felt  assured,  from  what 
Mr.  Herold  said  when  he  wrote  to  me,  that  you 
would  be  here  to-day,  as  he  suggested  that  I 
should  find  you  punctual.  It  is  of  the  greatest 
service  never  to  lose  a  minute,  unless  indeed,  it 
be  taken  for  a  rest." 

11  I  don't  want  to  lose  minutes,  I  want  to  make 
the  most  of  them,  and  Mr.  Field  told  me  that  I 
should  never  be  losing  any  time  as  long  as  I  was 
with  you." 

"  In  that  case,"  replied  the  boy's  new  leader, 
with  a  quick  smile,  "  what  would  you  like  to  do 
now?  You  have  never  seen  the  Grand  Canyon 
before!  " 

"  Never!  " 

"  And  you  are  anxious  to  do  so,  of  course?" 

'  You  bet !  ' '  answered  Roger.  Then,  with  a 
laugh,  "  I  pretty  nearly  mutinied  on  my  first  day; 


92  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

I  came  near  going  over  with  the  tourists  instead 
of  coming  here  to  report." 

"  I  am  quite  glad  that  you  did  not,"  said  the 
topographer,  "  for  I  should  like  to  be  with  you 
the  first  time  you  see  the  Canyon  in  order  to  be 
able  to  tell  you  what  it  all  means  and  how  it  came 
about.  You  would  probably  try  to  guess  at  the 
reason  of  things  and  you  would  guess  wrong, 
and  a  false  first  impression  is  a  bad  thing,  be 
cause  it  is  so  hard  to  take  out  afterward." 

"I'd  very  much  rather  find  out  right  at  first," 
answered  the  boy. 

"  Very  well,  then,  suppose  we  walk  to  a  near-by 
point,  where  an  unusually  good  view  of  the  Can 
yon  can  be  observed." 

Taking  up  his  hat,  as  he  spoke,  he  waited  while 
the  boy  arranged  for  his  grip  to  be  taken  to  his 
room,  and  then  without  further  parley  started  to 
ward  the  brink  of  the  chasm  with  quick,  nervous 
strides  which  taxed  Eoger's  walking  powers  to 
the  utmost.  They  walked  on  to  the  rounded  hill, 
Roger  so  full  of  excitement  that  he  could  hardly 
answer  his  companion's  questions  about  his  for 
mer  work  on  the  Survey,  and  just  as  they  were 
about  .to  cross  the  summit  of  the  slope,  Masseth 
touched  him  on  the  arm,  holding  him  back. 


PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON    93 

"  Wait  just  a  moment,"  he  said.  "  Look  back 
over  the  country  and  tell  me  what  you  see." 

Roger  turned.  "  I  don't  see  very  much,"  he 
said.  ' '  I  think  it 's  pretty  flat  except  for  a  range 
of  hills  to  the  east,  away  off,  and  that  to  the  south 
the  ground  seems  to  be  falling  away. ' ' 

"  Is  the  fall  long?  " 

"  I  hadn't  thought  of  that,"  said  the  boy,  "  but 
I  suppose  we  must  be  quite  high  up,  for  the  road 
has  been  on  a  gradual  incline  for  miles  and 
miles. ' ' 

Masseth  took  a  few  steps  onward. 

"  You  noticed,"  he  said,  "  how  gradual  that 
slope  was.  Now,"  pausing  as  they  crossed  the 
ridge,  "  this  is  not  so  gradual."  He  smiled  at  the 
boy's  speechless  wonderment. 

Roger  found  himself  standing  not  three  yards 
away  from  a  drop  of  6,800  feet,  the  first  couple 
of  thousand  sheer  almost  immediately  below  him. 
So  near  that  he  could  have  leaped  to  it,  rose  a  fan 
tastic  pinnacle,  elaborately  carved,  springing 
from  a  base  1,200  feet  below.  Beyond  this, 
seamed  and  jagged,  thrown  across  this  cloven 
chasm  as  though  in  defiance  of  any  natural  sup 
posing,  flung  a  blood-red  escarpment,  taking  the 
breath  away  by  the  very  audacity  of  its  reckless 


94  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

scenic  emphasis.  Further,  again,  in  unsoftened 
splashes  and  belts  of  naked  color,  mesa  and  pla 
teau,  peak  and  crag,  shouldering  butte  and  tower 
ing  barrier,  through  a  vista  of  miles  seeming  to 
stretch  to  the  very  world's  end,  impelled  a 
breathless  awe. 

And,  in  Titanic  mockery  of  pygmy  human  work, 
the  glowing  rocks  appeared  grotesquely,  yet  pow 
erfully  scornful  of  the  greatest  buildings  of  man 
kind.  Minaret  and  spire,  minster  and  dome,  fa- 
c.ade  and  campanile,  stood  guard  over  the  riven 
precipices,  and  not  to  be  outdone  by  man,  nature 
had  there  erected  temple  and  coliseum,  pyramid 
and  vast  cathedral,  castle  and  thrice-walled  fast 
ness,  until  it  seemed  to  the  boy  that  there  was 
thrown  before  his  eyes  a  hysterical  riot  of  every 
dream  and  nightmare  of  architecture  that  the 
world  had  ever  conceived. 

"  But — but,  I  never  thought  it  was  anything 
like  this !  ' '  exclaimed  Roger. 

The  older  man  repressed  a  smile  at  the  trite 
ness  of  the  speech,  which  is  that  usually  educed 
from  every  new  beholder  of  the  scene. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  it?  "  he  said. 

"  It  doesn't  seem  real,"  answered  the  boy. 
"  It's  like  the  places  you  see  in  your  dreams  that 


J.' iiuiograph,  by  U.K. U.K. 

GRAND  CAXYOX  OF  THE  COLORADO. 

Showing  the  nature  of  the  apparently  impossible  obstacles 
found  in  traversing1  it. 


PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON    95 

you  know  can't  be  so,  and  what's  more,  it's  like 
one  of  those  places  all  set  on  fire  with  flames  of 
different  colors." 

The  topographer  nodded. 

' l  But  what  you  will  find  still  more  strange, ' '  he 
said,  "  is  that  it  is  never  twice  the  same.  If  you 
move  a  few  yards  away  '  —he  suited  the  action  to 
the  word — "  it  looks  quite  different,  and  even  if 
you  stay  still,  under  the  changing  light  new 
shapes  appear." 

"That's  right,"  affirmed  the  boy.  "From 
where  we  stood  before,  I  could  see  a  huge  fortress, 
only  it  was  a  vivid  purple,  and  now  it's  gone. 
And  I  suppose  those  really  aren't  richly  carved 
churches  over  there,"  pointing  with  his  finger, 
'  *  but  a  fellow  would  bet  that  they  were. ' ' 

"  Churches  without  any  congregations,  and 
whose  only  preacher  is  the  thunder,  but  they  do 
look  like  temples  and  are  so  named.  But  truly 
they  have  been  carved,  though  not  by  human 
hands. ' ' 

"  By  what,  then?  "  asked  the  boy. 

"  By  wind  and  water,"  was  the  reply,  "  which 
have  made  and  unmade  many  a  thousand  square 
mile  of  the  earth's  surface.  If  you  will  notice," 
he  went  on,  "  jagged  and  pointed  as  those  peaks 


96  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

are,  from  this  side  clear  across  to  the  other,  not 
one  of  them  rises  above  the  level  on  which  you  are 
standing  or  rather,  above  the  level  of  the  opposite 
side  of  the  Canyon,  which  is  a  little  higher,  the 
slope  being  continued  across.  So,  you  see,  you 
must  not  think  of  these  like  mountains  as  being 
built  up,  but  of  gorges  as  being  cut  down." 

"  And  has  the  river  cut  it  all  down?  ' 

"  The  river  started  it,  and  then  of  course  every 
little  stream  helps,  and  indeed,  every  rain  adds 
another  fissure  to  the  carving." 

11  But  what  makes  such  curious  shapes?  "  asked 
the  boy,  still  considerably  puzzled. 

"  The  relative  hardness  of  the  different  kinds 
of  rock,"  was  the  reply.  "  Not  to  seem  too  tech 
nical,  the  top  stratum,  that  is  to  say  the  rock  im 
mediately  under  the  soil  of  this  plateau,  while 
quite  hard,  is  very  thin,  and  underneath  it  are 
various  other  layers  of  rock,  some  fairly  hard  and 
others  very  soft.  The  Colorado  River  has  a  very 
swift  current,  and  once  it  had  cut  through  the  hard 
rock  on  the  top  it  quickly  ate  its  way  downward 
through  the  soft  limestones  and  sandstones  below. 
But  some  strata  were  quite  hard  and  these,  resist 
ing  the  water,  formed  the  terraces  which  you  see 
on  every  hand. ' ' 


PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON    97 

"  But  I  still  don't  understand,"  said  the  boy, 
"  what  it  is  that  gives  them  such  curious  shapes. 
I  can  see  how  a  hard  rock  would  make  a  terrace, 
but  why  aren't  the  lines  all  regular?  " 

"  Just  because  it  has  been  done  by  water. 
Sandstone,  you  know,  is  made  of  sand,  pressed, 
and  sand  is  all  sorts  of  rocks  ground  down  fine. 
So  every  handful  of  sand  may  contain  particles  of 
a  dozen  different  kinds  of  rock,  and  if  there  was 
any  difference  in  the  hardness  of  the  rock  of 
which  the  sandstone  was  made,  or  any  difference 
in  the  pressure  while  it  was  being  made,  each 
difference  would  show  up  by  its  greater  or  less 
resistance  to  the  action  of  wind  and  water.  So, 
you  see  this  bit  is  hard  and  cuts  slowly,  that  bit 
soft,  and  cuts  rapidly,  giving  a  carved  effect." 

"  But  if  it  all  follows  a  regular  rule,  why  does 
it  look  so  unnatural?  " 

"  That  is  easy,"  replied  his  informant.  "  The 
strata  are  regular — that  is  what  makes  the 
masses  look  like  buildings  done  by  hand,  there  is 
a  sense  of  proportion,  but  they  look  unnatural 
because  the  ground  plan  is  capricious,  the  water 
having  found  its  way  to  the  bottom  of  its  thousand 
canyons  by  the  irregular  and  complicated  way  of 
least  resistance." 


98  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  And  the  colors  seem  so  glaring  and  so 
strange !  ' ' 

"  I  will  explain  those  to  you  after  dinner," 
said  the  topographer,  "  and,  by  the  way,  it  is 
nearly  time  we  returned  to  the  hotel  or  we  shall 
be  late.  I  can  show  you  how  the  various  reds  are 
due  to  iron  in  the  rock — you  remember  how  a 
rusty  nail  stains  everything  red? — and  other 
iron  compounds  give  the  green,  while  the  blues 
of  the  slates  and  the  dark  belts  of  hornblende  all 
play  their  part." 

Masseth  was  as  good  as  his  word  and  all 
through  the  time  ipent  in  the  dining-room  he  in 
terested  the  boy  in  the  country  by  his  vivid  de 
scriptions  of  how  all  these  rocks  had  first  been 
made,  then  reduced  to  sand  and  built  up  again, 
and  how  the  Colorado  Eiver  was  fast  tearing 
them  down  and  carrying  them  away  to  be  built 
up  somewhere  else  in  some  other  way." 

"  Then  geology  isn't  all  over!  "  exclaimed 
Eoger  in  surprise.  "  I  always  thought  of  it  just 
as  a  sort  of  history  of  things  that  happened  a 
great  while  ago." 

"  Geology  is  happening  :ight  along,9'  said 
Masseth,  "  and  that's  why  it  is  so  necessary  to 
do  this  work  and  find  out  both  what  has  been  and 


PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON    99 

what  is  going  to  be,  even  though  it  is  both  diffi 
cult  and  arduous." 

*  *  But  of  all  the  work  in  the  Survey, ' '  suggested 
Roger,  thinking  of  the  apparent  inaccessibility  of 
the  Canyon  as  he  had  seen  it,  "  I  should  think  this 
Grand  Canyon  work  the  most  difficult  and  danger 
ous  of  all." 

The  older  man  shook  his  head. 

"  It  is  not  dangerous,"  he  said,  "  unless  care 
lessness  is  shown,  because  the  most  lofty  buttes, 
simply  being  cut  down  from  the  level  plateau, 
have  their  crests  just  that  height,  so  that  they  can 
be  fairly  well  mapped  by  a  determination  of  their 
bases.  But,  though  you  can't  see  it  from  the  top 
here,  those  bases  are  fearfully  irregular  and  a 
cliff  forty  feet  high  may  take  miles  to  go  round. 
You  have  noticed  that  there  are  plenty  of  terraces, 
so  that  in  many  places  you  can  walk  up  or  down 
the  Canyon  as  on  a  made  road,  but  that  would  help 
you  not  a  whit  in  getting  across." 

11  Well,  it  is  difficult,  anyway,"  said  the 
boy. 

"  Extremely  so.  The  intense  color,  the  glow 
ing  rays  of  the  sun  seldom  shielded  by  any  clouds, 
the  lack  of  vegetation  and  the  absence  of  land 
marks  all  help  to  confuse  the  idea  of  distance,  so 


ioo        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

that  you  cannot  trust  to  your  eyes  to  map  a  point 
until  you  have  been  there." 

' '  And  how  do  you  get  there  ?  ' '  queried  the  boy 
in  wonderment. 

"  Climbing.  There  is  an  Indian  trail  on  this 
side  that  helps  a  little,  and  there  are  three  roads 
down  to  the  river  on  this  side  and  one  on  the 
north.  This  one  through  trail,  called  the  Cameron 
or  Tourist  trail,  has  been  partly  rendered  pass 
able,  so  that  by  herculean  effort  and  with  trusted 
and  well-trained  animals  it  is  possible  to  cross. 
Usually,  however,  the  trail  is  left  in  loneliness,  for 
there  is  absolutely  no  traffic  between  Utah  and 
Arizona.  Except  for  a  little  corner  in  each,  these 
States  are  more  widely  separated  than  if  an  ocean 
rolled  between  them. ' ' 

"  And  how  about  these  corners?  " 

"  Well,  Utah  can  get  to  hers  by  taking  a  little 
trouble,  but  the  northwest  corner  of  Arizona  is 
No  Man's  Land,  so  far  as  any  jurisdiction  goes." 

"  But  you  say  animals  can  be  made  to  tackle 
those  trails.  I  should  have  thought  that  kind  of 
work  would  kill  any  animal  that  tried  it." 

"  It's  pretty  hard  to  kill  a  burro,"  answered 
Masseth,  "  and  I've  never  lost  one.  Indeed,  in 
all  the  Survey  work  I've  done  in  the  Grand  Can- 


PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON    101 

yon,  I've  only  had  one  accident,  and  that  was  a 
case  absolutely  unavoidable.  I  lost  one  of  my 
favorite  horses  that  time." 

"  How  did  it  happen,  Mr.  Masseth?  "  asked 
Roger. 

"  It  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  Canyon,"  be 
gan  the  topographer,  * '  and  I  was  working  on  an 
outlying  butte  with  my  assistant.  We  had  made 
quite  a  number  of  bench  marks  and  I  was  working- 
out  the  contours — those  are  the  lines  on  a  map 
which  show  the  height  or  elevation  of  any  point — 
while  my  assistant  was  sitting  beside  me,  making 
out  some  of  the  necessary  calculations.  We  were 
working  out  from  a  little  side  camp,  the  two  of  us, 
the  rest  of  the  party  being  at  headquarters,  several 
miles  away.  I  was  drawing  in  at  full  speed,  be 
cause  I  wanted  to  change  from  that  side  station 
that  evening,  and  for  a  couple  of  hours  I  suppose 
we  had  not  exchanged  a  word,  except  with  rela 
tion  to  figures. 

' i  Before  coming  out  on  that  sun-baked  exposed 
butte,  I  had  tied  the  animals — a  pack-mule,  my 
riding  mare,  and  the  assistant's  horse — to  the 
branch  of  a  tree.  Suddenly,  as  it  afterwards  ap 
peared,  the  other  fellow  heard  a  sound  as  of  a 
fall  and  went  to  see  what  it  was.  He  was  gone 


102        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

so  long  that  I  noticed  his  absence.    When  he  re 
turned  I  waited  for  him  to  volunteer  an  explana 
tion  but  apparently  he  did  not  want  to  disturb  me, 
so  I  said,  questioningly : 
"  '  Well?  '  " 

I  i  '  Only  two  of  them  there  now, '  : '  he  replied. 
1  Bella's  gone  over  the  edge.    Neck's  broken,  so 
there's  no  use  doing  anything.' 

"  Now  Uncle  Sam,  you  know,  is  always  willing 
to  stand  for  accidents  that  can't  be  helped,  but 
he's  got  to  know  all  about  it,  and  while  I  realized 
that  it  would  really  matter  little  in  the  long  run, 
I  was  sure  that  the  department  would  feel  better 
satisfied  if  the  manner  of  the  accident  were  set 
forth.  So  I  put  away  my  pencil,  folded  up  the 
plane  table,  and  went  to  investigate.  It  was  as 
puzzling  a  thing  to  decide  as  I  ever  saw.  The 
tree  was  at  least  twenty  yards  from  the  brink  of 
the  precipice,  although  the  ground  sloped  fairly 
steeply  to  the  edge. 

II  When  I  arrived  there  I  found  the  other  two 
animals  tied  to  the  branch,  as  I  had  left  them,  and 
apparently  undisturbed.     The  ground,   however, 
between  the  tree  and  the  edge  of  the  chasm,  was 
torn  up  with  hoof  marks  and  the  struggles  of  an 
animal  that  evidently  had  fallen  to  the  ground, 


PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON     103 

and  the  spoor  from  the  tree  to  the  Canyon's  edge 
was  easily  traced.  Of  the  animal,  I  could  at  first 
find  no  evidence,  but  my  assistant  touched  me  on 
the  arm. 

"  '  Here,  Mr.  Masseth,'  he  said,  *  you  can  see 
Bella  from  here.' 

11  Sure  enough,  on  rounding  the  corner  of  a 
pinnacle  which  stood  out  a  little  distance  from  the 
edge,  the  body  of  the  mare  could  be  seen  about 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  down,  lying  on 
a  sharply  pitching  bank  of  talus — that  is,  debris 
of  rock  and  dust,  fallen  from  the  overhanging 
cliff  above.  It  was  still  a  wonder  to  me  how  the 
mare  fell,  and  as  she  had  been  wearing  a  brand- 
new  halter,  this  in  a  country  where  it  is  easier  to 
get  beast  than  harness,  I  told  my  assistant  that  I 
was  going  down  to  secure  the  halter  and  also  to 
find  out,  if  I  could,  what  had  been  the  cause  of  the 
accident. 

"  I  think  that  was  about  as  nasty  a  piece  of 
climbing  as  I  ever  had.  It  would  never  come 
about  in  the  regular  course  of  business,  you  see, 
because  we  don't  work  that  way,  but  I  was  going 
down  to  get  that  brute,  no  matter  what  labor  it 
cost.  At  last  I  managed  to  make  my  way  down 
to  the  point  where  she  was  lying.  There,  after 


104        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

studying  the  position  in  which  she  must  have 
fallen,  I  gained  some  idea  of  the  manner  in  which 
it  had  come  about.  Bella  was  from  the  ranches, 
where,  you  know,  an  animal  is  not  muscle-bound 
like  your  eastern  horses,  and  in  trying  to  scratch 
her  head — where  possibly  a  fly  had  settled — with 
her  off  fore-leg,  the  calk  of  her  shoe  must  have 
caught  in  the  neck-strap  of  the  halter,  and  of 
course,  she  could  not  get  it  out. 

"  The  poor  beast  probably  stood  as  long  as  she 
could  on  three  legs,  but  the  posture  must  have 
been  cramped  and  painful  after  a  few  moments 
and  she  fell  heavily,  breaking  the  rope  of  the 
halter  as  she  did  so.  Then,  while  lying  on  the 
ground,  floundering  about  in  an  effort  to  free  her 
foot  from  the  thraldom  of  the  halter-strap,  she 
must  have  slipped  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  edge 
and  then  suddenly  gone  over,  with  her  hind-foot 
still  fast  in  the  strap. 

* '  Since  I  had  got  so  far,  though  I  did  not  much 
relish  doing  it,  I  determined  to  take  off  the  halter, 
and  at  least  save  that  out  of  the  wreck.  But  you 
can  readily  see  that  the  halter  had  been  drawn 
fearfully  tight,  and  I  could  not  get  slack  enough 
to  unfasten  the  buckle.  At  last  I  gave  a  hearty 
wrench,  and  was  just  about  to  be  able  to  slip  the 


PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON     105 

prong  of  the  buckle  through  the  hole,  when  the  in 
secure  talus  on  which  I  was  standing,  and  on 
which  the  animal  had  been  resting,  began  to  slide. 
Fortunately  I  am  fairly  quick  on  my  feet,  and  in 
two  or  three  springs  I  reached  a  little  outjutting 
terrace.  But  I  had  scarcely  reached  that  point 
of  safety  when  poor  Bella  went  over  the  edge 
another  seventy-five  feet  into  the  chasm. 

' '  That  made  me  mad.  I  had  come  down  a  very 
nasty  piece  of  climbing  to  get  that  halter,  and  I 
was  bound  to  secure  that  bit  of  leather  if  I  had 
to  scramble  down  the  gorge  to  the  very  bed  of  the 
river  itself.  So,  as  soon  as  I  could  find  a  way  to 
start  down,  I  went  on  and  reached  the  mare,  this 
time  resting  on  a  wide  ledge  where  I  could  dis 
entangle  the  halter  with  but  very  little  trouble. 

"  I  had  gained  the  object  of  my  quest,  I  had 
found  out  the  cause  of  the  accident  to  the  horse, 
and  I  had  recovered  the  halter,  but  in  the  achieve 
ment  of  these  purposes  I  found  myself  two  hun 
dred  feet  down  the  gorge  and  I  knew  that  it  would 
be  a  great  deal  harder  to  get  up  that  distance 
than  it  had  been  to  get  down,  and  even  the  latter 
had  been  no  easy  matter.  Of  course,  my  assistant 
was  up  above,  and  had  been  watching  the 
proceedings,  all  the  while,  so  that  I  knew  he 


io6        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

would  get  at  me  from  the  top  in  the  course  of  time. 

"  I  was  anxious,  however,  to  get  back  the  way 
that  I  had  come  without  taking  a  long  trip  to  one 
of  the  side  canyons,  and  after  losing  some  time, 
and  also  some  skin  from  knees  and  elbows  and 
other  parts  of  my  body,  I  got  back  to  the  place 
where  the  horse  had  first  lain.  My  assistant 
dropped  me  a  rope — there  is  always  a  long  rope 
carried  by  each  party — and  I  climbed  up  that 
rope. ' ' 

11  Swarmed  up  a  rope  a  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  feet  high!  "  ejaculated  Roger,  then,  with  a 
whistle,  he  added,  ' '  that 's  an  awful  climb. ' ' 

"  It  was  not  a  straight  hand  over  hand  climb, 
my  boy, ' '  answered  Masseth  quietly.  ' l  You  must 
remember  that  all  those  walls  are  in  terraces  and 
every  other  line  of  strata  would  give  a  ledge.  Of 
course,  in  some  parts  they  were  overhanging  and 
that  made  it  all  the  harder,  but  there  were  plenty 
of  places  to  rest  on  the  way  up  and  in  due  course 
I  reached  the  top.  That  was  the  first  misad 
venture,  and  I  hope  it  will  be  the  last  in  any  of  my 
camps  in  Grand  Canyon  work." 

"  And  what  part  of  the  work  are  you  doing 
now,  Mr.  Masseth?  "  queried  the  boy. 

"  I  was  just  waiting  for  you  to  complete  the 


PERIL  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON    107 

party, ' '  was  the  reply.  * ;  We  are  going  to  tackle 
the  Tourist's  trail,  that  is  the  one  I  was  telling 
you  about,  and  will  go  up  the  other  side.  Then, 
from  the  north  side,  I  will  pick  out  a  number  of 
points  which  I  want  you — with  other  members  of 
the  party — to  occupy.  You  will  then  do  some 
work  under  my  assistant,  while  I  cross  back  to 
this  side,  and  on  an  appointed  day  we  will  strike 
a  level  across  the  nine-miles  gap." 

"  Then  we  will  be  working  together  though 
miles  apart!  "  asked  the  boy  in  surprise. 

"  Yes,  and  months  apart,  too." 

* '  But  how  in  the  world  can  you  do  that  ?  ' '  was 
the  amazed  response.  "  Do  you  carry  a  wireless 
telegraph  outfit  in  your  vest  pocket,  Mr.  Masseth? 
Is  there  anything  the  Survey  can 't  do  1  ' 

"  You  seem  to  think,"  responded  the  chief  with 
a  smile,  "  that  the  race  of  wizards  has  been  re 
born  and  christened  the  Geological  Survey,  as  a 
visiting  diplomat  once  said  of  us." 

"  Well,  pretty  nearly,"  answered  the  boy. 

"  We're  not  quite  that,"  admitted  the  other, 
' '  but, ' '  with  a  smile  of  mystification,  "  I  do  carry 
a  little  device  by  which  I  can  make  use  of  a  system 
of  wireless  telegraphy  which  was  in  existence 
thousands  of  years  ago." 


io8        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  And  can  I  see  it?  " 

li  Certainly,"  replied  the  topographer,  and 
drawing  his  hand  from  his  pocket,  he  showed  it 
open  to  the  boy. 

"  That's  just  a  looking-glass,"  cried  Eoger  in 
disappointment,  having  expected  to  see  some  del 
icate  and  ingenious  piece  of  intricate  machinery. 

11  Just  a  piece  of  looking-glass,"  assented  his 
chief.  "What  then?" 

"  But  how  do  you  work  it?  What  can  you  do 
with  that?  " 

"  That,  my  boy,"  answered  the  older  man,  "  is 
one  of  the  very  many  things  you  will  learn  while 
you  are  in  and  about  the  Grand  Canyon. ' ' 


Photograph  by  U.S.G.S. 

"   I  lOW  IX  THK  AYOKI-D  AM  I  GOING  TO  GET  UP  THERE  ?  " 

A  q^uery  for  the  topographer,  which  must  he  answered  ; 
a  sample  of  rough  country  work. 


CHAPTER  VI 

A  LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER 

EARLY  the  next  morning  quite  a  large  group  of 
tourists  gathered  to  see  the  Survey  party  set 
out,  it  having  become  known  that  it  was  to  make 
use  of  the  old  Cameron  trail  and  endeavor  to 
climb  the  other  side  of  the  Canyon.  Some,  who 
had  been  part  of  the  way  down  the  trail,  were  po 
litely  incredulous  as  to  the  possibility  of  the  feat, 
others  took  an  especial  pleasure  in  prophesying 
disaster,  and  a  few  expressed  a  wish  that  they 
might  accompany  the  party  "  to  see  how  it  was 
done. ' ' 

To  these  various  people  Masseth  paid  no  heed. 
Indeed  he  scarcely  responded  to  questions,  return 
ing  but  the  briefest  replies,  except  once,  when  an 
old  lady,  quiet  and  gentle  in  manner,  came  up  and 
laid  her  hand  on  his  arm. 

"  You  will  pardon  an  old  lady,"  she  said,  "  but 
I  should  not  like  to  think  of  your  going  down 
there,  unless  you  can  assure  me  that  it  is  really 
safe. ' ' 

109 


i io        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

The  topographer  turned  to  her  immediately, 
raising  his  cap  and  smiling : 

"  I  have  been  over  the  trail  before,"  he  said, 
"  and  indeed  I  have  been  in  many  worse  places 
than  this  part  of  the  Canyon,  so  you  really  need 
feel  no  alarm.  It  is  very  kind  of  you  to  be  so 
licitous  of  our  well-being,  and  I  shall  take  your 
expressed  interest  as  a  happy  omen  for  the 
journey." 

This  little  speech,  overheard  by  Eoger  as  he 
came  up  with  the  head  packer  to  say  that  every 
thing  was  ready,  gave  him  a  quick  insight  into  the 
intense  graceful  courtesy,  which  was  so  strong  a 
characteristic  of  the  man  who  was  to  be  his  chief 
for  a  couple  of  months  to  come.  A  few  sentences 
between  Masseth  and  the  chief  packer  were  fol 
lowed  by  the  words,  spoken  in  a  sharp  tone  of 
command,  markedly  different  from  the  suavity 
of  a  moment  before : 

"  You  may  start,  then!  " 

Roger  waited  for  instructions. 

"  Doughty,"  said  the  leader,  "  you  will  ride  in 
the  rear  with  Black,  and  you  will  do  well  to  let 
him  teach  you  how  to  handle  the  animals  in  rough 
spots.  I  shall  go  ahead,  of  course." 

"  Very  well,  sir,"  answered  Roger,  and  can- 


LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER  1 1 1 

tered  off  to  the  pack  train,  where  the  assistant 
topographer  was  helping  the  second  packer  to  get 
the  mules  started.  The  head  packer  had  gone 
as  far  as  the  brink  of  the  Canyon  with  the  chief 
and  there  waited  to  deploy  the  animals  on  the  trail 
in  good  order  and  to  scrutinize  every  pack  as  it 
passed  him,  to  make  sure  that  none  should  become 
loose  and  slip. 

The  boy  chatted  freely  with  Black  as  they  paced 
along  behind  the  last  of  the  mules,  and  he  found 
his  companion  well-informed,  as  Masseth  had 
said,  but  except  on  matters  of  the  trail,  somewhat 
non-communicative.  In  brief  remarks,  however, 
he  explained  to  the  boy  many  of  the  troubles  he 
must  expect  to  encounter  and  the  best  manner  of 
meeting  them,  and  his  curt  references  to  the  lie  of 
of  the  land  struck  Eoger  as  being  of  immense 
value.  He  pointed  out  certain  striking  landmarks 
as  features  of  the  landscape  which  were  to  be 
ignored,  because,  from  any  point  of  view,  they 
would  appear  entirely  different ;  and  certain  other 
eminences,  perhaps  not  even  as  noticeable  as  the 
former,  which  he  must  remember,  since,  by  reason 
of  their  conformation  they  would  always  appear 
the  same  and  thus  could  be  taken  as  absolute  and 
certain  guides. 


ii2        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

But  as  soon  as  the  trail  fell  over  the  edge  there 
was  no  more  speaking.  Fell  over  the  edge,  Roger 
thought,  was  almost  the  only  way  to  describe  the 
road,  which  was  precipitous  and  winding  beyond 
belief.  There  was  a  supposition  that  the  way  had 
been  made  smooth  for  mules,  but  it  did  not  seem 
to  the  lad  that  any  four-footed  animal  short  of  a 
goat  could  keep  his  footing.  The  long  line  of 
mules  treading  easily  in  front,  however,  was  evi 
dence  that  he  need  not  fear,  so  warily  keeping  an 
eye  on  his  mule  lest  his  mount  should  stumble,  he 
preceded  the  assistant,  following  immediately 
after  the  last  pack  mule. 

For  several  hundred  feet  the  trail  went  down  in 
this  rough  fashion,  then  suddenly  turned  sharply 
to  the  left  along  one  of  the  broad  terraces  of  rock, 
whereof  Masseth  had  spoken  to  the  boy  before. 
After  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  easy  going,  the  party 
came  to  a  slope  of  loose  shale,  almost  filling  up 
the  terrace.  The  pack  mules  picked  their  way 
over  this  without  any  apparent  demur,  but  Black 
called  out: 

"  Guess  you'd  better  get  off!  " 

Roger  slipped  from  his  saddle,  and  going  to  the 
mule 's  head  started  to  walk  beside  it. 

11  Go  in  front,  you  chump,"  called  the  other. 


LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER    113 

'  *  If  the  trail 's  none  too  wide  for  one,  how  do  you 
suppose  two  can  go  abreast?  " 

"  But  I  can't  help  him  then!  "  protested  Eoger. 

This  speech  was  greeted  with  a  hoarse  chuckle. 

"  Any  old  time  a  mule  needs  a  tenderfoot  to 
teach  him  where  to  put  his  feet, ' '  he  said, ' '  I  want 
to  have  a  front  seat  to  watch  it.  Don't  you  ever 
worry  about  that,  I  guess  he  can  walk  anywhere 
that  you  can,  but  on  a  shelving  bank  a  rider  makes 
a  beast  topheavy." 

Down  they  went  into  the  chasm,  climbing  over 
heaps  of  fallen  rock,  pitching  down  slopes  which 
seemed  almost  perpendicular  to  the  boy,  and  as 
they  descended  the  sun  rose  higher  and  the  air 
seemed  to  become  less  tenuous  and  almost  visible. 
Roger  had  been  expecting  the  wonderful  radiance 
of  the  valley  to  become  tenfold  richer  under  the 
noonday  sun,  and  was  surprised  to  note  all  the 
color  fade  out  of  the  rocks  and  the  air  become  as 
it  were  so  solid  as  to  refract  the  light  of  the  sun. 
The  whole  atmosphere  seemed  to  be  glowing  with 
a  metallic  luster  which  was  most  confusing,  be 
cause  of  the  way  in  which  it  changed  the  whole 
environment.  Lines  of  strata  became  distorted 
and  even  disappeared,  the  buttes  appeared  to 
flatten,  the  minor  shadows  to  diminish  and  the 


ii4        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

darker  shades  to  turn  an  inky  black,  till,  when  the 
halt  was  made  at  noon,  the  boy  realized  that  he 
could  not  have  made  his  way  back  one  mile  by 
reason  of  the  chaotic  look  of  the  abyss  under  the 
direct  light  of  the  noonday  sun. 

After  the  march  had  been  resumed  and  the 
afternoon  was  drawing  to  a  close,  however,  the 
true  witchery  of  the  scene  struck  deep  into 
Roger's  mind.  As  the  evening  clouds  began  to 
gather  and  the  twilight  shadows  deepened,  the 
Titanic  temples  and  cloisters  seemed  to  awake  and 
stretch  themselves  to  meet  the  expected  vesper. 
Little  by  little  the  atmosphere  lost  its  density  and 
the  rocks  behind  began  to  glow,  the  colossal  buttes 
assumed  their  due  proportions;  while  a  thousand 
bizarre  forms,  that  had  not  been  observable  in 
the  intense  light  of  day,  thrust  themselves  for 
ward  into  an  uncouth  prominence.  Then  the  sun 
disappeared  from  the  view  of  the  travelers,  though 
still  shining  on  the  rocks  above.  Black  cantered 
up  beside  the  boy. 

"  Now  watch,"  he  said:  lf  here's  where  you  see 
the  greatest  display  of  color  in  the  whole  world. ' ' 

"  But  how  can  it  be  brighter  than  it  is  now!  ' 
queried  Eoger,  on  whom  the  bold  and  striking 
scene  was  creating  a  profound  impression. 


LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER  1 15 

"  The  best  is  yet  to  come,"  answered  his  com 
panion,  ' '  and  look,  it  begins  now !  ' ' 

For  the  first  time  since  morning  Roger  was  able 
to  look  upwards  without  being  blinded  by  the  sun 
light.  The  sloping  rays  now  fell  full  upon  the  up 
per  part  of  the  Canyon,  at  the  crest  of  which  a 
vivid  yellow  cut  athwart  the  transparent  blue  of 
the  sky  and  underneath  its  pallid  brilliancy  ran  a 
soft  belt  of  pale  rose.  The  deep  vibrating  red  of 
the  body  of  the  Canyon  seemed  to  pulse  with  life 
as  a  faint  blue  haze  began  to  gather  in  the  dusk, 
changing  second  by  second  into  the  countless  dif 
fering  hues  of  crimson  lakes  and  ruby  violets, 
deepening  as  the  hastening  twilight  passed. 
Strange  and  metallic  gleams  of  burnished  bronze 
and  green  gloomed  from  the  intervening  lines,  all 
yielding  place  little  by  little  to  the  veil  of  azure 
mist.  And  beneath  all,  the  glowing  red,  now 
changed  to  imperial  purple,  as  though  the  world 
were  bathed  in  a  regal  radiance  at  the  crowning 
of  a  universe's  king. 

It  was  not  until  the  dark  had  really  come  and 
the  stars  were  shining  brightly  that  the  boy 
awakened  to  the  consciousness  of  a  trail  and  felt 
that  he  could  speak.  He  turned  to  the  assistant. 

"  And   that's   been   going   on   every   day   for 


ii6        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

years!  "  he  said,  struck  by  the  wastefulness  of 
such  a  sight  to  so  few  eyes. 

"  For  thousands  upon  thousands  of  years  that 
went  on  before  any  man  saw  it,"  replied  Black, 
smiling  slightly,  "  and  it  will  go  on  when  the 
present  civilizations  are  deemed  but  musty  an 
tiquities." 

The  night  was  well  advanced  when  the  party 
reached  the  crest  of  the  Canyon  on  the  north  side. 
The  journey,  as  Masseth  had  said,  was  one  devoid 
of  special  risk  because  of  the  numbers  of  the 
party  and  the  known  trail,  though,  in  truth,  it 
needed  a  keen  eye  at  times  to  discern  that  such 
apparently  impassable  ground  was  intended  for  a 
trail.  The  top  reached,  however,  a  hasty  camp 
pitched,  the  packs  and  saddles  taken  off,  the  mules 
and  the  animals  hobbled  to  graze  on  the  rich 
herbage  of  the  Kaibab  plateau,  Roger  sank  to 
sleep  without  loss  of  time,  and  it  seemed  to  him 
hardly  ten  minutes  before  the  cook  aroused  him 
for  the  camp  breakfast. 

' '  You  know  something  about  the  work  of  a  rod- 
man,  and  of  the  handling  of  the  tape?  "  asked  Mas 
seth,  after  breakfast,  referring  to  the  300-foot  steel 
tape  used  in  measuring  distances  in  wooded  areas. 

"  Yes,  indeed,  Mr.  Masseth." 


LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER    117 

"  Of  course  you  realize  that  the  tape  is  gen 
erally  impracticable  in  such  a  country  as  this,  and 
that  all  the  work  must  be  done  by  the  computing  of 
angles  with  continual  astronomical  verification. 
As  topographic  aid  you  can  learn  as  much  as  you 
are  able  of  the  use  of  instruments,  at  such  times 
as  you  are  not  carrying  out  levels."  And  Mas- 
seth,  questioning  closely,  elicited  the  mathematical 
ability  of  the  lad.  The  boy  had  always  hated 
arithmetic  and  its  kindred  studies,  not  realizing 
the  value  of  the  higher  branches,  but  with  the  in 
centive  before  him,  he  found  his  chief's  teaching 
markedly  interesting. 

The  next  day  a  semi-permanent  camp  was 
pitched,  and  there  the  supplies  were  kept.  The 
head  packer,  who  became  a  teamster  as  soon  as 
things  were  settled,  immediately  left  for  the  vil 
lage  of  Kanab  in  Utah,  over  a  hundred  miles 
away,  where  a  heavy  wagon  was  in  waiting,  and 
whence  the  provisions  were  to  be  drawn  for  the 
party  during  the  two  months  it  should  be  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Canyon.  As  it  was  a  three  days' 
journey  there  and  the  same  returning,  the  team 
ster  was  a  busy  man,  having  but  one  day  com 
paratively  free  and  camping  on  the  trail  five 
nights  out  of  seven. 


u8        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Roger,  of  course,  went  out  with  the  other  men 
every  day,  scaling  points  picked  out  for  him  by 
the  chief  as  places  he  desired  occupied,  measuring 
from  the  rod  elevated  by  the  boy,  who  then,  at  a 
signal,  was  ordered  to  go  to  the  next  point  sched 
uled.  To  a  boy  as  fond  of  climbing  as  was  Roger, 
for  a  day  or  two  this  was  good  fun,  but  the  novelty 
soon  passed  by  and  he  did  his  day's  work  with  a 
persistent  regularity,  which,  though  it  brought 
forth  the  results  required,  was  lacking  in  the  ad 
venturous.  In  short,  the  continuity  of  risky  work 
became  monotonous. 

It  was  due  to  this  cause,  perhaps,  that  one 
afternoon,  when  this  sort  of  thing  had  been  pro 
ceeding  for  several  weeks,  Roger,  passing  from 
one  outjutting  piece  of  rock  to  another,  but 
a  few  feet  away,  jumped  carelessly,  twisted  his 
ankle  beneath  him  and  fell,  spraining  his  wrist. 
Despite  the  sprain,  however,  he  reached  the  point 
to  which  he  had  been  sent,  and  then,  instead  of 
going  on,  returned  to  the  topographer. 

"  What's  the  matter!  "  called  Masseth,  who 
had  seen  him  fall,  as  soon  as  he  came  in  hearing. 
"  Did  you  hurt  yourself?  ' 

"  Sprained  my  wrist,  I  think,  Mr.  Masseth," 
answered  the  boy.  ' '  Beastly  sorry,  but  I  'm  afraid 


Photograph  ly  U.S.O.S. 

A  HARD  POIXT  TO  MEASURE. 
Note  the  comparative  size  of  horse  and  men  at  the  foot. 


LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER  119 

I'll  have  to  lay  off  for  the  rest  of  the  after 
noon." 

"  Let's  see,  son."  The  topographer  felt  the 
wrist,  then  feeling  that  no  bones  were  broken,  and 
that  a  day  or  two  would  set  it  all  right  again,  bade 
Roger  go  to  the  main  camp  and  let  the  cook  change 
places  with  him  for  a  few  days. 

11  I'll  write  to  Mr.  Mitchon,  and  tell  him  of  your 
promotion  to  camp  cook,"  called  Masseth,  laugh 
ing  as  Roger  rode  away. 

On  arriving  at  the  camp  and  giving  his  mes 
sage  to  the  cook,  the  latter  readily  agreed  to  help 
for  a  few  days. 

"  I'll  go  at  once,"  he  said,  "  the  teamster 
should  be  back  to-morrow,  and  while  things  are 
running  pretty  short,  I  guess  you'll  have  enough 
to  hold  out." 

The  following  morning  early,  after  having  told 
Roger  everything  he  was  to  look  after,  the  cook 
started  for  the  side  camp  to  take  Roger's  place, 
while  the  latter  looked  after  the  camp.  Long  and 
weary  seemed  the  morning  to  the  boy,  so  inactive 
it  was  after  the  strenuous  life  he  had  been  leading 
for  some  weeks,  and,  though  the  teamster  usually 
got  in  before  noon,  when  evening  came  he  had  not 
arrived.  Roger,  who  had  counted  on  the  cook's 


izo        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

knowledge  of  the  teamster's  time,  found  himself 
almost  without  food  for  supper,  and  made  a  very 
light  repast.  He  was  just  about  to  turn  in  for  a 
sleep,  when  he  heard  the  sound  of  horses'  hoofs 
and  went  out  to  greet  the  teamster. 

"  Is  that  you,  Jim!  "  he  called  out. 

"  Guess  not,  pardner,"  answered  a  strange 
voice,  and  a  cowman  loped  into  the  circle  of  light. 
"  This  here  a  United  States  camp?  "  he  queried. 

"  Yes,"  answered  the  boy. 

"  An'  who's  running  the  shebang?  ' 

"  I  am  just  at  present,"  Eoger  answered. 
"  But  I  expected  the  teamster  here  to-day." 

11  You  are?  No  offense,  but  you  don't  look 
more'n  a  yearling.  Well,  it's  not  so  worse  to 
brand  'em  young. ' ' 

The  lad  explained  the  circumstances  of  his  being 
alone,  pointing  out  that  the  rest  of  the  party  were 
only  three  or  four  hours '  ride  away,  and  the  stran 
ger  nodded. 

"  Which  I  was  a  plumb  forgettin'  to  explain  is 
that  the  gent  what  you  was  a-greetin'  with  the  airy 
name  of  Jim,  won't  come  none  this  week  to  camp, 
but  he  allowed  as  you-all  had  a-plenty." 

"  What's  the  matter  with  him?  " 

"  Which  I  ain't  a  sharp  as  a  doc.     Took  a  spell 


LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER  121 

or  somethin'.  I  opine  he's  a  goin'  to  continue 
cavortin'  around  this  Vale  of  Tears  some  more, 
though  he  has  been  figurin'  on  procurin'  a  brace  of 
wings." 

"  He's  getting  better,  though?  "  asked  the  boy. 

* '  Which  he  holds  a  good  hand  for  a  long  life. ' ' 

' '  But  I  haven 't  got  any  extra  supply  of  grub, ' ' 
continued  Eoger  in  some  dismay. 

"  Shore !  ':  The  stranger,  who  was  just  gather 
ing  up  his  reins,  half  turned  in  the  saddle.  "  I 
wouldn  't  bet  a  small  white  chip  for  any  gent 's  suc 
cess  in  a  dooel  with  hunger.  Which  it  is  some 
uncomfortable  to  ignore  the  chuck-wagon.  But 
this  here  Jim  he  relates  that  he  toted  a  big  jag  last 
time,  and  it  must  be  cached." 

"  It  must  be  here  somewhere,  then,"  said 
Eoger  dubiously,  "  and  I'll  look.  But  it  doesn't 
sound  good  to  me." 

11  Which  if  you  don't  locate,  saunter  over  to  the 
Bar  X  Double  N  and  we  will  supply  the  existin' 
demand  a  whole  lot, ' '  and  with  a  wave  of  his  hand 
the  rider  cantered  away  into  the  darkness,  with 
out  giving  Eoger  a  chance  even  to  ask  where  the 
ranch  might  be. 

But  youth  is  little  accustomed  to  troubled 
dreams,  and  Eoger  slept  soundly  enough,  awaken- 


122        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

ing  the  next  morning,  not  to  a  hot  and  well-cooked 
breakfast,  but  to  having  to  prepare  his  own.  Lay 
ing  hands  on  everything  that  he  could  find,  the  boy 
made  out  a  breakfast  and  then  started  on  a  search 
for  other  provision.  He  doubted  its  existence  for 
the  cook  had  told  him  that  it  was  nearly  all  gone. 
At  last,  in  his  rummaging  he  found  a  little  note 
book,  marked  on  the  outside,  "  Record  of  Sup 
plies,"  and  thinking  that  this  might  give  a  clew, 
he  opened  it. 

There,  under  a  date  of  a  few  days  before,  was 
an  entry  to  the  effect  that  the  cook  had  sold  to  a 
passing  party  a  large  supply  of  surplus  provision, 
thinking  that  the  teamster  would  make  his  regular 
trip.  It  was  small  wonder,  Roger  thought,  that 
the  teamster  was  not  at  all  anxious,  because  he 
made  sure  that  the  provision  was  still  in  the  camp, 
and  of  course  the  cook  was  not  disturbed  because 
he  supposed  that  the  teamster  would  come  the 
next  day. 

The  situation  was  gloomy  enough  so  far  as 
Roger  was  concerned,  for  he  was  practically  with 
out  food,  but  what  rendered  the  matter  doubly 
serious  was  that  the  rest  of  the  party  would  come 
in  from  the  side  camp  two  days  hence  with  their 
supply  of  provision  exhausted,  only  to  find  the 


LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER  123 

camp  barren,  and  leaving  five  men  a  long  way 
from  getting  food  instead  of  one.  The  more 
Roger  thought  over  the  matter,  the  more  deter 
mined  he  was  that  he  must  procure  supplies.  The 
question  was,  where? 

If  the  lad  had  known  the  country  at  all,  there 
were  undoubtedly  ranches  somewhat  near  at  hand 
to  which  he  could  appeal  at  a  pinch,  but  he  had 
wisdom  enough  to  know  that  it  would  be  the  height 
of  folly  to  ride  out  upon  the  north  Arizona  plateau 
without  the  faintest  idea  of  a  destination.  There 
was  the  ranch  to  which  he  had  been  told  to  come, 
and  he  had  heard  of  it  often  enough  to  know  that 
it  was  one  of  the  largest  ranches  in  the  country, 
but  who  would  direct  him  there?  He  feared  that 
a  blind  try  in  the  plain  might  put  him  out  of  touch 
of  water  as  well  as  food,  a  condition  insupportable. 

There  was  only  one  bright  spot  in  the  position, 
and  that  was  the  presence  of  Jack.  Jack  was  a 
burro,  apparently  of  extreme  age,  who  had  been 
found  one  morning  near  the  camp,  and  who  had  at 
tached  himself  to  the  party.  Of  course  all  the  rest 
of  the  animals  were  away,  the  cook  having  ridden 
back  to  the  side  camp  the  horse  on  which  Eoger 
had  come  from  there.  True,  there  was  this  burro, 
but  what  could  he  do  with  it,  where  could  he  go  ? 


124        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

As  he  asked  himself  this  question,  an  answer 
shot  into  the  boy's  mind  which  turned  him  hot 
and  cold.  He  looked  over  the  plateau  to  the 
plains  and  shook  his  head,  then  quietly  went  into 
the  tent  to  think  over  the  best  course  for  him  to 
pursue.  Five,  ten,  fifteen  minutes  passed,  then 
with  jaw  hard-set  and  lips  compressed  Eoger 
walked  to  where  the  burro  was  grazing,  and 
slipped  a  halter  over  his  head.  Obediently  the 
patient  animal  followed  him  to  the  edge  of  the 
rift  of  the  Canyon,  and  there  Koger  looked  down 
and  across.  Nine  miles  away,  across  those  fear 
ful  chasms  and  lurid  cliffs  lay  food  and  neces 
saries  not  only  for  himself,  but  for  the  party. 

Eoger  was  conscious  that  prudent  judgment 
would  counsel  his  return  to  the  side  camp  for 
the  purpose  of  informing  the  party  of  the  situ 
ation,  so  that  they  could  cross  by  the  old  trail  to 
renew  supplies,  but  the  boy  knew  that  Masseth 
was  working  against  time.  Beside  this,  it  would 
be  a  great  achievement  and  the  lad  was  burning 
with  a  desire  to  shine  before  the  Survey.  The  old 
trail  was  the  better  way,  but  it  had  been  night 
when  they  debouched  on  the  plateau  and  Roger 
could  not  have  told  where  the  trail  entered.  He 
feared  he  might  lose  time  by  hunting  for  that 


LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER  125 

faint  trail,  and  decided  to  direct  his  whole  strength 
into  an  attempt  to  force  his  way  straight  across 
the  cleft  in  defiance  of  the  decree  that  it  had  never 
been  done  and  could  never  be  done. 

About  a  mile  away  along  the  bank  there  was  a 
deep  fault  which  could  be  entered  a  few  hundred 
yards  back  on  the  plateau.  The  lad  knew  about 
this,  for  the  spring  whence  the  camp  got  its  water 
was  close  by.  Into  this  Roger  turned  with  his 
burro,  casting  one  long  glance  at  the  camp  just 
visible  in  the  distance,  before  he  took  his  courage 
in  both  hands  and  plunged  into  the  almost  inac 
cessible  ravine. 

"  They  call  this  Bright  Angel  Canyon,  Jack," 
he  said  aloud.  "I'd  like  to  have  a  pair  of  their 
wings  right  now." 

The  little  gray  burro  looked  at  him  for  a 
moment,  then  went  on  picking  his  steps  carefully. 
It  was  rough  but  not  perilous  for  a  few  hundred 
yards  and  the  boy's  spirits  rose  until  in  an  hour 
or  so  he  came  to  an  obstruction  about  ten  feet 
high,  but  this  puny  ten  feet,  which  had  looked 
simply  like  a  little  ridge  of  dirt,  baffled  him  for 
hours.  He  traveled  up  and  down,  but  found  the 
terrace  continuous,  and  it  seemed  as  though  his 
quest  would  fail  almost  before  it  had  well  begun. 


i26        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Suddenly  there  flashed  into  the  boy's  mind  one 
of  the  old  fables,  and,  as  before,  he  took  his  rough- 
haired  friend  into  his  confidence. 

"  We  can't  jump  it  or  knock  it  down,  Jack,  old 
boy,"  he  said.  "  It's  up  to  us  to  climb  it  some 
way. ' ' 

With  immense  toil  and  labor  he  carried  stone 
and  rock  and  bits  of  boulders,  and  though  hours 
were  spent  on  the  task  he  built  up  a  kind  of  shaky 
and  insecure  pile  up  which  the  burro,  following 
him  patiently,  reached  the  top.  There  luck  was 
with  him,  for,  by  picking  his  steps  carefully  for 
twenty  yards  or  so,  he  was  enabled  to  reach  a 
newly  fallen  piece  of  cliff,  by  which  he  got  to 
firm  ground  on  the  other  side.  Stopping  to  rest, 
this  obstacle  over,  the  boy's  ears  were  greeted  by 
the  musical  and  grateful  sound  of  falling  water, 
and  hurrying  to  the  place,  he  found  a  little  stream 
fed  by  springs  and  gurgling  merrily  in  tiny  cas 
cades  to  the  river. 

Although  he  knew  but  little  of  geology,  Roger's 
sense  speedily  showed  him  that,  by  following  this 
little  tributary,  he  probably  would  have  a  fair  path 
down  to  the  river,  or  at  least,  while  he  would 
probably  find  many  drops  downward,  there  would 
be  no  walls  across  his  path  unless  it  were  one 


LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER  127 

through  which  the  little  creek  had  tunneled.  So, 
ankle  deep  in  the  grooved  bed,  they  started  down 
the  streamlet  on  its  way  to  the  bottom  of  the 
valley. 

It  was  perhaps  fortunate  for  the  lad  that  he 
was  not  too  well-informed  in  the  customary  ways 
of  the  burro,  and  was  entirely  unaware  of  the 
animal's  intense  objection  to  running  water.  Had 
he  known  this,  in  all  probability  he  would  have  left 
the  burro  behind,  which  would  have  resulted 
grievously.  But  this  old  burro,  as  it  fortunately 
chanced,  must  have  belonged  to  some  prospector 
working  in  a  mountain  country,  for  he  evinced  no 
fear  of  or  dislike  to  the  stream.  One  hundred  and 
seven  times  did  Roger  and  the  burro  cross  Bright 
Angel  Creek,  each  crossing  growing  swifter  and 
deeper  than  the  last.  Dusk  was  falling  as  they 
reached  the  bank  of  the  Colorado  River  at  the  base 
of  the  Canyon. 

Before  it  became  entirely  dark,  the  boy  climbed 
up  a  peak  of  rock  to  make  sure  of  the  direction  of 
his  objective  point,  a  matter  hard  to  be  determined 
because  of  the  windings  of  the  river,  and  on  de 
scending  laid  several  stones  in  a  row  pointing  to 
the  direction  sought.  Then,  supperless  and  al 
most  spent,  he  resolutely  refrained  from  eating 


i28        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

the  few  last  morsels  he  had  brought  with  him,  and 
flinging  himself  down  beneath  an  overhanging 
ledge  he  fell  asleep. 

In  spite  of  the  strangeness  of  his  position  it  was 
bright  daylight  when  he  awoke  and  the  burro  was 
standing  patiently  near  by.  Taking  from  his  wal 
let  the  solitary  crust  of  bread  and  the  few  biscuits 
that  remained,  and  noting  that  Jack  had  found 
some  grass  just  at  the  water's  edge,  Roger  put  on 
his  shoes  and  walked  gravely  to  the  edge  of  the 
river.  There  is  only  one  Colorado  River  in  the 
world,  and  it  is  perhaps  the  most  violent  stream 
in  the  two  hemispheres.  It  was  not  at  its  height  at 
this  time,  but  it  ran  like  a  mill  race  with  a  vicious 
swirl  and  spume,  and  was  ugly  to  look  at.  Roger 
was  no  mean  swimmer,  but  his  heart  sank  at  the 
thought  of  plunging  into  it. 

"  Jack,"  he  said,  "  I'd  as  soon  try  to  swim  the 
Niagara  gorge,"  and  the  burro  looked  wonder- 
ingly  at  his  master. 

So  up  and  down  the  bank  for  several  hundred 
yards  he  went,  striving  to  find  some  rapids  that 
might  be  forded,  but  only  at  one  place  did  it  even 
appear  possible  and  that,  the  boy  thought,  had 
large  odds  against  it.  Still,  it  was  all  he  saw,  and 
he  put  the  burro  at  it.  But  Jack  refused,  point- 


LONE  HAND  AGAINST  HUNGER  129 

blank,  and  as  the  obstinacy  of  a  burro  needs 
some  considerable  persuasion  to  overcome,  things 
looked  black  for  the  boy. 

There  was  just  the  river  between  him  and 
safety,  for  Roger  had  heard  the  men  speak  of 
an  Indian  trail  which  paralleled  the  river  on  the 
southern  side  and  whence  he  could  reach  one  of 
the  three  trails  that  ascended  the  plateau,  and 
not  only  safety,  but  the  welfare  of  the  party, 
which  he  felt  was  intrusted  to  his  care.  The 
burro  would  not  try  the  ford.  Very  well,  then, 
he  would  cross  himself.  On  this  side  of  that  tor 
rent,  hunger,  defeat,  and  death,  on  the  other  food, 
success,  and  reputation.  Come  what  might,  he 
would  cross ! 


CHAPTER  VII 

SAVED   BY   HIS   NERVE 

IT  was  with  a  lurking  fear  that  the  burro  had 
the  better  intuition  of  danger  that  Eoger  decided 
to  attempt  the  ford  that  the  animal  had  refused 
to  try,  but,  so  far  as  he  could  see,  there  was  no 
other  way  out. 

"  He  may  follow  me,"  said  Roger  aloud,  look 
ing  at  the  little  animal,  * '  but  I  hate  to  leave  him 
behind. ' ' 

The  longer  he  looked  at  it,  however,  the  worse 
it  got,  and  so,  in  order  to  test  the  feasibility  of 
it,  the  boy  sprang  lightly  upon  the  nearest  boul 
der  about  four  feet  from  the  bank.  Water  to  the 
depth  of  six  inches  was  pouring  over  the  stone, 
but  he  had  paid  no  heed  to  this,  feeling  that  it 
was  easy  to  brace  against  a  current  of  that  shal- 
lowness.  But  if  his  feet  ever  touched  that  stone 
he  did  not  know  it,  for  the  rush  of  water  took  his 
footing  from  him,  throwing  him  headlong  as 
though  his  feet  had  been  jerked  from  under  him  by 
a  rope. 

130 


SAVED  BY  HIS  NERVE          131 

As  he  fell,  the  boy  threw  out  a  hand  to  save 
himself  and  grasped  a  projecting  corner  of  the 
boulder  on  which  he  had  expected  to  land,  and 
found  himself  hanging  on  for  dear  life  with  the 
current  pouring  over  the  rock  into  his  face  and 
almost  strangling  him.  Very  few  seconds  were 
enough  to  show  that  he  had  not  strength  enough  to 
draw  himself  up  on  the  rock  against  the  force  of 
the  stream,  but  the  bank  was  scarcely  more  than 
an  arm's  length  away,  and  making  a  desperate 
lunge  the  boy  reached  it  and  clambered  on  shore, 
his  breath  gone  and  his  nerve  somewhat  shaken  by 
the  suddenness  of  the  peril. 

The  hope  of  a  ford  must  be  given  up  there 
fore;  no  boat  or  raft  was  procurable,  and  indeed 
could  hardly  live  in  such  a  torrent,  bridging  was 
out  of  the  question,  so  nothing  remained  but  to 
swim  for  it.  Roger  figured  that,  while  of  course 
he  could  not  swim  directly  across,  if  he  could 
manage  to  make  any  resistance  to  the  current  at 
all  and  would  point  up  stream  at  a  slight  angle, 
the  onrush  of  the  stream  would  carry  him  across. 
A  little  distance  below  the  ford  he  had  attempted, 
the  river  flowed  deeper  with  less  apparent  tur 
moil,  and  there,  perhaps,  was  a  chance  to  get 
through  alive. 


132        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

But  the  question  of  the  wearing  or  the  not 
wearing  of  boots  was  quite  a  quandary.  If  he 
kept  them  on,  they  would  impede  his  swimming 
greatly,  while  if  he  took  them  off  and  did  manage 
to  get  across,  his  feet  would  be  cut  to  pieces  in 
ascending  the  Canyon  on  the  other  side.  But  he 
decided  to  do  one  thing  first,  and  if  he  crossed 
the  river  safely,  then  it  would  be  time  to  consider 
ways  of  going  up  the  chasm.  Taking  off  his 
shoes  he  tied  them  to  the  burro's  neck,  feeling 
sure  that  even  if  the  little  animal  failed  to  cross 
alive,  he  might  be  washed  ashore  on  the  further 
bank  and  the  boots  could  be  recovered. 

Then,  unexpectedly  to  the  burro,  while  the  lat 
ter  was  standing  at  the  edge  of  the  bank,  he  gave 
him  a  shove  and  toppled  him  in  and  sprang  into 
the  water  after  him. 

But,  despite  his  previous  little  experience  of 
the  force  of  the  current,  Eoger  had  altogether  un 
derestimated  its  power.  He  could  not  even  face 
it,  the  impetus  stunned,  blinded,  and  deafened 
him.  The  river  took  him  like  a  chip,  and  though 
in  an  aimless  sort  of  way,  he  tried  to  swim  so 
as  to  keep  his  head  above  water,  he  knew  that 
he  was  being  swept  down  the  reach  with  incred 
ible  speed.  As  for  the  burro,  he  had  not  time 


SAVED  BY  HIS  NERVE          133 

to  think  about  the  faithful  little  beast,  who  was 
being  swept  down  the  river  even  more  rapidly 
than  the  boy. 

But,  about  two  hundred  yards  down  the  river, 
there  stuck  out  above  the  water  a  large  pro 
jecting  snag,  which  had  been  carried  down  the 
stream  from  the  forests  hundreds  of  miles  above, 
and  which  had  been  partly  buried  in  silt  and 
thereby  held  firm.  The  snag  being  on  the  fur 
ther  side  of  the  river,  just  as  it  took  a  sharp 
curve,  had  made  a  tiny  shoal  and  the  burro  was 
slung  by  the  current  against  the  snag  and  held 
there  by  the  force  of  the  water.  The  donkey 
had  hardly  struck  the  snag  before  Roger,  gasp 
ing  and  exhausted,  came  whirling  down  upon  him, 
but  his  smooth  wet  sides  afforded  no  handhold 
and  Roger  was  slipping  away  from  him  when  his 
hands  unconsciously  touched  and  grasped  the 
animal's  tail. 

A  violent  jerk  followed,  and  for  a  moment  it 
seemed  doubtful  whether  the  wrench  would  not 
tear  the  burro  from  the  crotch  of  the  limb  in 
which  he  was  imprisoned,  but  the  anchored  tree 
held  fast,  and  Roger,  though  his  arms  were  nearly 
pulled  from  their  sockets,  fought  inch  by  inch 
his  way  to  the  lee  of  the  burro,  grasped  the  snag, 


134        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

and  finally  got  footing  on  a  part  of  it  below  the 
water,  where  the  current  was  not  so  swift.  But 
there  was  no  time  to  lose,  so  Roger,  rapidly  un 
fastening  his  shoes  from  around  the  burro's 
neck,  threw  them  to  the  shore,  which  was  about 
sixteen  feet  distant ;  then  to  get  a  start  for  a  jump 
he  balanced  himself  on  the  topmost  branch  of  the 
snag  and  gave  a  wild  leap  for  safety. 

He  could  jump  six  feet,  and  with  arms  out 
stretched  reach  five,  leaving  scarcely  two  yards  to 
cover.  This  the  impetus  of  his  leap  should 
give  him,  Roger  figured,  but  even  those  few  feet 
were  almost  too  much,  and  had  not  the  shore 
curved  a  trifle  at  that  point  he  might  have  been 
carried  out  toward  the  center  of  the  stream 
again.  But  the  initial  velocity  of  his  spring  was 
just  enough,  and  a  moment  later,  with  his  heart 
beating  like  a  trip-hammer  and  trembling  with 
the  exertion,  Roger  flung  himself  upon  the  other 
shore.  The  Colorado  was  crossed! 

Roger's  first  thought,  after  a  sense  of  grati 
tude  and  relief,  was  for  the  burro,  but  for  whose 
providential  capture  in  the  snag  and  whose  most 
convenient  tail,  he  would  probably  have  been 
dashed  upon  the  rapids  below.  He  got  nimbly  to 
his  feet,  though  considerably  bruised  and  sore, 


SAVED  BY  HIS  NERVE          135 

and  hurried  up  stream  the  thirty  or  forty  feet 
to  where  he  had  left  the  animal.  As  he  reached 
there,  he  saw  that  the  burro  had  found  shoal 
water  under  his  feet  and  was  pawing  away  for  a 
foothold,  thus  loosening  the  hold  of  the  snag  upon 
the  bottom,  and  the  boy  saw  the  tree  begin  to 
shift. 

11  Don't,  Jack,"  he  called,  as  though  he  be 
lieved  the  burro  could  understand,  "  keep  still 
till  I  help  you  out !  ' ' 

But  the  companion  of  the  boy's  perilous  trip 
took  the  shouting  for  encouragement  and  kicked 
all  the  harder,  till  a  few  seconds  later,  amid  a 
swirl  of  mud  and  sand,  the  huge  wreck  of  a  tree 
rolled  over  and  whirled  down  in  the  river  in  a 
confusion  of  branches  amid  which  the  poor  burro 
seemed  to  have  no  chance.  The  very  size  of  the 
tree  evinced  to  Roger  how  furious  must  be  the 
torrent  of  the  Colorado  in  the  spring  floods,  for 
the  snag  showed  that  it  must  have  come  from  a 
pine  not  less  than  thirty  inches  at  the  base.  The 
forking,  broken  and  splintered  limbs,  however,  pro 
jecting  on  all  sides,  caught  in  the  bed  of  the  river 
now  that  the  stream  was  low,  and  this  prevented 
the  burro  from  being  swept  into  the  middle  of  the 
current,  and  suddenly,  to  the  surprise  and  de- 


136        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

light  of  the  boy,  a  swift  back  eddy  caught  the 
animal  and  threw  him  up  upon  the  shore. 

Boger  ran  to  him,  but  there  was  no  sign  of  mo 
tion,  the  poor  burro  lay  quiet  as  though  dead. 
Heaving  a  sigh,  for  their  twin  peril  had  made 
Roger  quite  fond  of  the  little  animal,  he  turned 
to  go,  half-thinking  that,  if  there  were  any  future 
state  for  the  four-footed  part  of  the  world,  he 
would  have  a  candidate  to  present.  Then,  sitting 
on  a  fallen  rock,  he  put  on  his  boots,  his  feeling 
of  pride  at  the  great  achievement  of  having 
crossed  the  Colorado  Eiver  only  dimmed  by  his 
sorrow  for  his  faithful  comrade.  Before  leav 
ing,  however,  he  went  back  to  where  the  burro 
lay. 

"  It's  a  shame  to  leave  you  lying  there,  Jack," 
he  said,  "  but  there's  nothing  I  can  do  for  you. 
Of  course,  I  know  you're  only  just  a  burro,  but  I 
do  hate  to  say  '  Good-by.'  : 

There  was  a  great  big  lump  in  the  boy's  throat. 

"I'd  like  to  dig  a  grave,  or — or — something," 
he  added,  "  but  I  can't.  It  seems  playing  it  low 
down  on  you,  Jack,  when  I  couldn't  have  got 
across  but  for  you,  but  there 's  no  help  for  it.  It 's 
got  to  be  good-by!  " 

"He  turned  away  sadly,  when,  just  as  he  did  so, 


SAVED  BY  HIS  NERVE          137 

he  thought  he  saw  the  little  burro's  side  heave. 
With  a  shout  of  delight,  he  stooped  down,  though 
he  had  not  the  faintest  idea  whereabouts  to  lo 
cate  the  animal's  heart,  and  was  feeling  for  a 
throb,  when,  with  two  or  three  deep  breaths,  the 
burro  opened  his  eyes  and  staggered  to  his  feet; 
looking  with  a  mild  surprise  on  Roger,  who  was 
dancing  the  wildest  kind  of  a  war-dance  round 
him  and  whooping  enough  to  make  it  sound  as 
though  the  Apaches  were  on  the  scalping  trail 
once  again. 

But  while  the  difficulties  of  the  trip  were  by  no 
means  over,  the  dangers  were  now  few.  Roger 
knew  that  he  was  bound  to  strike  the  Indian  trail 
which  paralleled  the  river  on  the  southern  side, 
and  that,  if  he  desired  still  easier  going,  though 
probably  longer,  he  had  only  to  follow  any  of  the 
terraces  and  he  would  strike  one  of  the  trails. 
He  decided  on  the  latter  course,  and  with  Jack 
following  him  with  absolute  docility,  he  com 
menced  his  long  trip  up  the  other  side  of  the 
Canyon.  On  and  on  he  went,  hour  after  hour 
passed,  when,  just  as  the  boy  had  given  up  all 
hope  of  ever  reaching  the  trail,  the  burro  turned 
sharply  and  stood  still.  The  afternoon  was  draw 
ing  on,  and  between  hunger  and  exhaustion  Roger 


138        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

was  very  nearly  played  out.  Looking  up,  how 
ever,  he  found  he  could  just  discern  the  edge  of 
the  Canyon  near  the  hotel,  and  he  knew  that  the 
little  black  specks  upon  the  brink  were  people, 
probably  looking  down  at  him,  and  all  unaware  of 
the  desperateness  of  his  condition. 

His  handkerchief  had  been  lost  somewhere,  so 
Roger  tore  off  the  sleeve  of  his  shirt  to  wave  at 
the  people,  and  a  following  glint  of  white  told 
him  that  they  were  waving  back.  But  it  was 
help  that  he  wanted,  not  greeting,  and  the  boy  puz 
zled  his  brains  to  think  how  he  could  signal  at  that 
distance.  Then  an  idea  struck  him,  and  looking 
up  to  see  that  the  people  were  there,  he  stumbled 
and  fell  as  though  to  make  them  think  that  he 
had  been  hurt  or  wounded  in  some  way.  A  rapid 
increase  in  the  numbers  on  the  edge  of  the  chasm 
told  him  that  his  ruse  had  succeeded,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  he  saw  several  people  debouch  on  the 
trail,  which  was  only  visible  for  a  few  yards  from 
the  summit. 

He  pulled  himself  together  and  started  up  the 
trail,  but  it  was  not  until  it  was  almost  dark  that 
the  rescue  party  found  him,  the  leader  being  a 
long,  gaunt  frontiersman. 

"  What's  your  name?  "  demanded  the  latter. 


SAVED  BY  HIS  NERVE          139 

"  Got  anything  to  eat?  "  promptly  countered 
Eoger,  to  whom  this  was  the  chief  need. 

The  frontiersman  signed  to  one  of  the  party 
who  had  brought  some  provisions  along,  and  after 
the  boy  had  been  somewhat  refreshed,  the  old  man 
said: 

"  Now  tell  us  whar  you've  been." 

"  I've  come  from  the  other  side,  down  Bright 
Angel  Canyon,"  replied  Koger  tersely,  "  and  I 
came  to  get  grub  for  the  Survey  camp." 

Numerous  inquiries  brought  from  the  boy 
enough  of  the  story  to  give  the  members  of  the 
search  party  a  fair  idea  of  what  had  happened. 
He  was  too  tired  to  talk,  however,  and  contented 
himself  with  an  appeal  that  Jack  should  be  well 
looked  after,  and  thereafter  satisfied  himself  with 
sticking  to  the  saddle  of  the  mule  which  had  been 
brought  down  for  him  to  ride.  When  they 
reached  the  hotel  the  frontiersman  walked  into 
the  rotunda  with  the  boy,  and  as  they  stood  be 
fore  the  desk,  he  turned  to  the  crowd  assembled 
and  said: 

"  Ladies  and  gents,  I'm  no  speechmaker,  but  I 
reckon  we  hadn't  ought  to  let  this  young  feller 
hit  the  bunk  before  we  tell  him  what  we  think  of 
a  chap  who  is  plucky  enough  to  blaze  a  new  trail 


140        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

across  the  Grand  Canyon,  and  the  first  time  in 
its  history  to  cross  it  alone  with  one  burro.  This 
is  Roger  Doughty,  ladies  and  gents,  the  first  white 
man  to  cross  the  Grand  Canyon  alone. ' ' 

Immediately  all  the  curiosity-hunters  that  hang 
about  those  sight-seeing  hotels  crowded  around 
the  boy,  but  he  would  have  nothing  to  say,  and 
was  far  too  wearied  to  undertake  to  tell  his  story. 
Bidding  the  clerk  have  all  the  supplies  ordered 
for  him  early  in  the  morning  he  turned  to  go, 
when  his  new  friend,  the  frontiersman,  said : 

"  Did  you  reckon  to  go  back  yourself  with  the 
grub?  " 

"  Sure.  To-morrow,"  said  the  boy.  "  That  is, 
if  I  can  get  a  little  sleep  to-night,"  he  added 
pettishly. 

"  Then  I'll  go  with  you,  boy.  You've  done  a 
thing  that  will  be  talked  about  in  Arizona,  I  guess, 
as  long  as  the  Colorado  River  flows.  It  isn't 
right  for  you  to  tackle  the  trip  back  alone,  and 
anyway,  I  know  the  trail  better  than  you  do.  An' 
what's  more,  you  sleep  till  I  call  you  myself  to 
morrow,  and  I'll  see  that  all  the  supplies  are  ready 
and  packed  for  the  start.  I'm  an  old  hand  at  the 
game,  bub,  and  you  can  leave  it  all  to  me." 

Roger  thanked  him  and  once  more  turned  to 


SAVED  BY  HIS  NERVE          141 

go  to  bed  when  he  was  intercepted  by  another 
group.  The  frontiersman  stepped  forward. 

"  The  kid's  going  to  hit  the  pillow,"  he  an 
nounced,  "  an'  I  reckon  that  he's  earned  it.  Any 
one  that  tries  to  stop  him  can  talk  a  while  to 
me.  Go  on  up,  bub,"  which  Koger,  portentously 
yawning,  proceeded  to  do. 

So,  laughing  at  the  mixture  of  friendliness  and 
bravado  exhibited  by  the  boy's  lanky  champion, 
the  people  stood  aside  while  Eoger  stumbled  up 
stairs  and  fell  on  a  bed  asleep.  A  few  minutes 
later  the  big  frontiersman  followed  him,  and  see 
ing  him  dead  to  the  world  with  all  his  clothes  on, 
even  his  hat  being  still  crushed  over  his  eyebrows ; 
picked  him  up  on  his  knee,  took  off  his  clothes 
and  tucked  him  in  as  tenderly  as  his  mother  might 
have  done,  the  boy  never  even  growing  restless  in 
his  sleep  the  while.  That  done,  the  burly  West 
erner,  whose  touch  had  been  throughout  as  light  as 
that  of  a  woman,  looked  down  on  the  sleeping  boy. 

"  If  that's  the  kind  the  government  breeds,"  he 
said,  "  no  wonder  we  can  whip  the  earth!  "  and 
he  went  down  to  arrange  about  the  next  day's 
trip. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  Survey  party  had 
progressed  rapidly  with  its  work,  and  on  the 


142        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

afternoon  following  Roger's  arrival  at  the  hotel, 
they  returned  to  the  main  camp.  They  thought 
it  strange,  as  they  rode  in,  that  Roger  should  not 
have  heard  the  horses'  hoofs  and  come  out  to 
greet  them,  and  Masseth  felt  a  slight  alarm  lest 
the  hurt  to  Roger's  wrist  should  have  proved 
more  serious  than  was  at  first  thought.  On  reach 
ing  the  main  tent,  however,  he  saw  a  large  piece 
of  paper,  held  down  by  a  stone.  He  picked  it 
up.  It  was  written,  boy-like,  as  an  official  report, 
and  read  as  follows : 

1 '  ME.  MASSETH  :  Sir,  I  regret  to  report  that 
James,  the  teamster,  has  got  sick,  and  will  not 
bring  any  supplies  this  week.  He  sent  word  that 
there  was  a  lot  of  supplies  in  camp,  but  I  could 
not  find  them.  A  cowboy  from  Bar  X  Ranch 
brought  word.  I  have  taken  burro  and  will  try 
to  cross  Canyon  to  get  supplies.  I  hope  to  be 
back  Friday  afternoon  or  evening. 

"  R.  DOUGHTY." 

"  By  the  eternal  jumping  crickets!  "  was  Mas 
seth 's  first  astonished  exclamation.  Then,  call 
ing  to  the  cook,  "  George,"  he  said,  "  come  here 
a  moment !  ' ' 


SAVED  BY  HIS  NERVE          143 

The  cook  came  over  and  the  chief  handed  him 
the  letter.  George  read  it  through  carefully 
twice,  then  handed  it  back. 

"  I  got  a  chance  to  get  a  long  price  for  some 
pretty  stale  grub,  and  it  looked  to  me  like  a  good 
stunt.  How  was  I  goin'  to  know  that  bally  chump 
of  a  teamster  was  plannin'  to  get  sick?  ' 

"  But  the  boy!  " 

"  It's  sure  tough  on  the  boy.  It's  a  beast  of 
a  trip,  even  if  he's  sure  of  the  trail." 

"  But  he's  only  been  over  it  once,  and  he  could 
never  remember  that  confusion  of  canyons."  He 
turned  sharply  on  the  cook.  "  It's  your  fault," 
he  said;  "  you  ought  to  know  better  than  to  let 
yourself  run  out.  It's  never  safe  to  go  without 
some  on  hand  for  contingencies." 

The  cook  thought  it  wiser  not  to  increase  his 
superior's  anger  by  replying,  so  went  to  the  cook 
ing  tent  to  try  to  devise  some  sort  of  a  meal 
from  the  remnants  that  had  been  brought  from 
the  side  camp.  As  for  Masseth,  the  more  he 
thought  of  the  situation  the  less  likely  did  it 
seem  that  the  boy  could  have  found  his  way,  but 
he  could  have  struck  water  somewhere,  so  that 
perhaps  search  parties  organized  on  the  other  side 
might  have  a  chance  of  finding  him,  but  every 


144        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

hour  counted.  He  talked  it  over  with  the 
assistant. 

"  Well,"  answered  Black,  "  of  course  the  dark's 
confusing,  but  with  both  of  us  watching  the  trail 
and  knowing  the  landmarks,  we  can't  get  far 
astray.  And  we  might  drop  across  the  lad.  I'm 
ready  to  start  any  minute  you  say." 

Masseth  thought  for  a  moment,  then  pointed 
with  his  finger  to  the  chasm. 

"  I  don't  believe  any  of  us  would  be  comfort 
able  to-night,"  he  said,  "  knowing  that  the  lad 
was  down  there,  when  for  all  we  know  he  may  be 
dying  of  starvation  and  the  loneliness  of  desola 
tion,  just  within  our  reach.  A  bite  to  eat,  what 
ever  there  is,  and  then  an  immediate  start." 

Gathered  to  the  hasty  and  scanty  supper,  the 
cook  found  himself  in  a  position  of  extreme  dis 
comfort,  though  no  blame  was  attached  to  him. 
He  had  acted  for  the  best  and  this  result  could 
not  have  been  foreseen.  Perhaps  it  was  because 
his  nerves  were  unusually  upon  the  strain  that 
he  was  the  first  to  hear  a  sound  along  the  chasm. 
He  held  up  his  hand  to  enjoin  silence,  and  in  a 
moment  or  two  horses'  hoofs  and  voices  were 
heard.  Then,  looming  unnaturally  large  in  the 
last  flush  of  twilight  before  the  darkness  fell, 


SAVED  BY  HIS  NERVE          145 

came  two  figures,  one  on  a  tall  iron-gray  horse, 
one  on  a  mule,  with  a  burro  plodding  along  pa 
tiently  behind. 

A  stentorian  voice  hailed  them  from  the 
distance. 

'  *  Hey,  there !  "  it  said. 

"  Well?  "  called  back  Masseth. 

The  second  of  the  oncomers  answered,  this 
time  in  a  boy's  voice. 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Masseth,  have  you  been  back 
long?  " 

"  It's  the  boy,"  said  the  topographer  sol 
emnly,  but  with  a  note  of  joy  in  his  voice,  "  and 
his  life  won't  be  laid  at  my  door;"  the  soberness 
of  words  and  tone  revealing  how  keenly  the  fear 
of  Roger's  peril  had  been  pressing  on  him. 

When  the  two  rode  up  the  boy  introduced  his 
frontiersman  friend  to  the  chief  of  the  party,  the 
while  he  was  being  untied  from  the  saddle,  to 
which,  in  his  still  exhausted  and  stiffened  state, 
he  had  been  fastened.  But  introductions,  how 
ever  informal,  did  not  stop  the  big  Westerner 
from  speaking  his  mind. 

"I'm  thinkin'  there's  some  thunderin'  big  fools 
in  this  here  party,"  he  announced  in  his  abrupt 
way,  "  that  can  get  matters  into  such  a  hole  that 


146        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

a  youngster  has  to  start  off  on  a  crazy  trip  like 
that,  but  I  want  to  state  that  the  boy  is  pay  dirt 
all  through.  He's  not  only  crossed  the  Canyon 
alone,  but  he's  found  a  new  trail!  ' 

"  Where?  "  asked  Masseth  eagerly,  thinking  it 
wiser  to  ignore  the  stranger's  criticism  rather 
than  debate  the  point. 

"  Down  Bright  Angel  Canyon,  Mr.  Masseth," 
answered  the  boy.  "  It  wasn't  so  awfully  bad, 
except  in  a  few  places." 

"  But  how  did  you  get  through?  " 

' '  I  went  down  by  the  spring, ' '  answered  Roger, 
"  keeping  to  the  right,  until  I  got  wedged  in 
between  two  cliffs,  pink  in  color  with  a  broad 
band  of  slate  blue  about  two-thirds  of  the  way 
up." 

"  That's  usually  a  bad  wall!  "  interjected  Mas 
seth.  "  How  did  you  cross  it?  ' 

Eoger  described  the  device  he  had  used,  and 
received  the  encomiums  of  all  his  comrades  for 
the  work,  and  then,  as  briefly  as  he  could,  gave 
an  outline  of  the  various  points  of  interest  on 
the  way. 

He  was  especially  gratified,  when,  after  telling 
how  he  had  got  out  of  the  pocket  of  rock,  Masseth 
turned  to  his  assistant. 


SAVED  BY  HIS  NERVE          147 

"  We'll  chart  that  as  Doughty  Point,"  he  said, 
"  for  the  boy's  sake." 

The  boy  flushed  with  delight  at  having  his  name 
given  to  a  part  of  the  country,  just  like  a  real 
explorer,  and  cast  a  grateful  look  at  his  chief. 

11  It  was  just  beyond  that  that  I  struck  water. 
The  ravine  sloped  abruptly  for  about  one  hun 
dred  feet,  then  struck  an  upcurving  rock  and  gave 
a  little  jump  like  a  fellow  does  on  skis  and  fell 
like  a  long  silver  ribbon  for  about  two  hundred 
feet.  I  suppose  that  is  Bright  Angel  Creek?  ' 

"  And  rightly  named,"  put  in  the  assistant 
topographer,  nodding  his  head  affirmatively, ' '  any 
stream  that  doesn't  run  dry  in  this  sort  of  coun 
try  is  angelic,  all  right. ' ' 

Eoger  continued  his  story  of  the  trip,  describ 
ing  points  which  he  had  noted,  Masseth  naming 
them,  "  Deva  Temple,"  "  Brahma  Temple,"  "  Zo 
roaster  Temple,"  etc.,  and  at  last  he  fixed  the 
route  by  its  relation  to  "  Cheops  Pyramid,"  one 
of  the  well-known  configurations  of  the  Canyon. 

"  But  on  which  side  of  the  creek  were  you, 
when  you  saw  the  pyramid?  "  asked  the  chief. 

11  On  the  other  side  from  it,"  answered  Roger. 

"  If  you  had  only  crossed  once  more,  or  once 
less,  it  would  have  brought  you  to  the  main  trail 


148        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

where  the  boat  is,"  said  Masseth  regretfully. 
' '  But  how  in  the  world  did  you  cross  1  ' ' 

So  Roger  told  the  story  of  the  burro,  and  the 
manner  in  which  he  had  been  caught  in  the  crotch 
of  a  snag ;  and  the  party,  though  old  hands  at  the 
business,  hung  on  his  tale  as  though  they  had 
been  so  many  greenhorns.  He  told,  moreover,  as 
well  as  he  could,  his  route  up  the  other  side,  until 
the  frontiersman  took  up  the  story  from  the 
point  where  the  lad  had  been  seen  by  the  spec 
tators  on  the  edge  of  the  Canyon,  near  the  hotel. 

The  last  few  sentences  of  the  boy's  story  had 
been  somewhat  incoherent,  for  the  long  trip  of 
that  day,  following  his  arduous  experiences  alone 
had  been  too  much  for  him,  and  he  could  not  keep 
his  eyes  open.  He  was  promptly  taken  to  his 
tent  and  bidden  to  sleep,  the  while  the  frontiers 
man  described  enthusiastically  the  boy's  pluck 
and  nerve. 

"  And  I  thought,  by  thunder,"  he  concluded, 
"  that  the  overschooled  kids  of  this  generation 
were  a  pack  of  milksops,  but  I  see  there's  grit 
in  an  American  boy  yet !  ' ' 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  LAND  WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS 

IT  was  well  on  in  the  afternoon  of  the  next 
day  when  Roger  woke,  to  find  his  friend  the 
frontiersman  bustling  about  the  camp.  He  came 
sharply  when  the  boy  hailed  him. 

"  See  here,  lad,"  he  said,  "  I  figured  that  a 
rest  wouldn't  hurt  you  any,  so  I  told  the  thin  fel 
low  that  if  you  stayed  on  here  a  while,  I  didn't 
have  much  on  hand,  and  I'd  keep  you  company. 
Jest  to  watch  that  you  didn't  get  up  in  the  mid 
dle  of  the  night  and  try  and  find  some  other  new 
trail.  So  it's  you  and  me  for  a  few  days,  and  I 
guess  that  teamster  of  yours  ought  to  show  up 
soon,  because,  of  course,  he  doesn't  know  any- 
thin'  about  what's  been  goin'  on." 

A  couple  of  lazy  weeks  passed  by  rapidly,  lazy 
because  the  Westerner  insisted  on  doing  all  the 
work  that  needed  to  be  done,  and  before  they  were 
over  Roger  found  that  he  had  nearly  regained  his 
full  strength,  his  wiry  frame  recuperating  with 
out  loss  of  vitality.  Masseth,  on  his  return,  was 

149 


150        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

much  gratified  to  find  how  well  the  boy  had  got 
along,  and  the  following  week  he  took  him  alone 
to  one  of  the  most  prominent  stations  on  the 
northern  side. 

"  Now,  Roger,"  Masseth  said  to  him,  "  I've 
just  about  finished  what  I  want  to  do  on  this  side, 
so  I'm  going  across  to  run  a  level  on  the  other 
side.  But  I'm  very  anxious  to  get  a  clear  sight 
of  this  peak,  where  we're  standing,  for  an  exten 
sive  triangulation,  in  order  to  correct  or  rather 
verify  some  results.  The  only  way  in  which  this 
can  be  done  is  to  flash  a  heliograph  message  to 
me,  at  a  certain  time  on  a  certain  day,  in  the  way 

I  showed  you  last  week." 

"  Across  seven  miles'?  "  asked  the  boy  in 
amazement. 

"  More   than   that,"    said  his    chief,    smiling. 

II  Now  here  is  the  way  you  had  better  get  at  it. 
In  this  box,  which  you   see  has  been   securely 
fastened  to  the  rock,  are  two  pieces  of  tin,  one 
with  a  quarter  of  an  inch  hole  in  it,  the  other  with 
a  hole  an  inch  square.     They  point,  with  mathe 
matical  correctness,  to  a  peak  on  the  other  side, 
which  is  an  old  station,  and  easily  seen.    If  you 
look  through,  you  can  see  the  place." 

Roger   bent   down,   and   looking  through   the 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       151 

aperture  was  able  to  determine  a  slight  projection 
on  the  far  distant  bank,  which  he  described  and 
which  was  in  verity  the  point  sought. 

"  Now,"  continued  Masseth,  "  two  months 
hence,  or  to  be  more  exact,  sixty  days  from  now, 
at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  I  will  be  waiting 
at  that  point  on  the  other  side,  and  I  shall  expect 
you  to  be  here.  Over  the  further  piece  of  tin, 
as  you  see,  I  have  hung  a  cloth,  which  you  can 
drop  while  you  are  testing  the  glass.  In  this 
movable  frame,  so  devised  that  it  can  be  screwed 
up  or  down,  or  shifted  slightly  sideways,  arrange 
the  glass  so  that  the  reflection  of  it,  shining 
through  the  larger  hole,  appears  at  an  equal  dis 
tance  on  all  sides  of  the  smaller  opening.  You 
understand  me  ?  ' 

"  Quite,  Mr.  Masseth,"  answered  the  boy,  who 
had  been  listening  with  all  his  ears. 

"  Very  well,"  the  older  man  continued.  "  At 
eight  o'clock  sharp,  then,  you  will  raise  quickly 
the  curtain  in  front  of  the  smaller  hole,  and  drop 
it  again,  doing  this  three  times,  allowing  the  hole 
to  remain  open  for  ten  seconds  each  time.  Do 
that  every  five  minutes  for  half  an  hour,  or  six 
times  in  all,  to  allow  for  any  possible  variation 
of  time  in  your  watch.  By  the  way,  you  had 


i52        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

better  have  two  watches  in  the  event  of  one  of 
them  stopping  or  the  hands  catching,  or  some 
thing  of  that  sort,  because  a  month's  work  will 
depend  on  getting  that  signal.  But  I  think  I  can 
trust  you." 

"  You  can,  indeed,  Mr.  Masseth,"  said  Roger. 
11  But  what  shall  I  be  doing  during  those  two 
months  I  Am  I  to  remain  alone  in  camp !  ' 

"  Hardly,"  said  his  chief,  smiling.  "  The  Sur 
vey  does  not  waste  men  that  way.  Mr.  Mitchon 
has  written  me  that  Mr.  Herold  desires  you  should 
have  an  insight  into  the  varied  work  of  the  de 
partment,  and  I  have  arranged  for  another  top 
ographic  aid  to  meet  me  on  the  other  side,  so 
that,  except  for  this  heliograph  signal,  which  I 
must  remind  you  is  excessively  important,  you 
will  have  finished  with  the  work  here." 

"  Then  what?  " 

"  Death  Valley  and  the  Mohave  Desert,"  re 
plied  his  chief.  "It  is  perhaps  a  little  hard  to 
send  you  into  a  hot  section  of  the  country  at  this 
time  of  year,  but,  you  see,  you  cannot  go  too  far 
away  because  of  your  engagement  with  the  sun 
on  a  morning  two  months  hence — by  the  way,  if 
it  is  cloudy,  which  is  so  rare  a  contingency  as 
scarcely  to  be  reckoned  on,  signal  the  next  morn- 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       153 

ing  at  the  same  hour — so  you  must  stay  near  by, 
and  the  most  interesting  work  at  hand  is  that 
being  done  in  the  waterless  country." 

"  Death  Valley,"  the  boy  repeated,  his  eyes 
sparkling  with  excitement,  "  I  have  always  won 
dered  what  Death  Valley  was  really  like." 

"  That  will  give  you  a  chance  to  see  it,  and  to 
find  out  for  yourself." 

"  But  how?  "  asked  the  boy  surprisedly. 
"  Isn't  the  air  poisonous,  or  something!  I  had 
an  idea  that  nothing  could  live  in  Death  Valley." 

Masseth  smiled. 

"  You're  mixing  up  some  fairy  story  of  the 
Upas  Tree,  or  something  of  that  sort,"  he  said. 
"  There's  nothing  very  dangerous  in  Death  Val 
ley,  except  the  lack  of  water.  And  even  that  is 
nothing  like  it  used  to  be,  because,  while  they 
have  not  found  any  more  water,  the  places  where 
pools  do  exist  are  carefully  mapped  out  and  made 
easy  of  access.  But  it  is  a  grim  and  fearful 
place  unless  every  step  of  the  journey  is  care 
fully  planned  with  relation  to  those  few  scanty 
wells." 

"  Then,"  said  the  boy,  "  if  it  is  just  lack  of 
water,  why  was  it  called  Death  Valley?  " 

"  A  party  of  emigrants  gave  it  that  name," 


154        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

said  the  chief  quietly,  "  and  to  them  its  sinister 
title  bore  a  grim  meaning.  They  had  passed 
through  the  desert,  suffering  incredible  hardships 
and  were  greatly  weakened  when  they  arrived  at 
the  valley.  Still  they  pluckily  journeyed  on  till 
they  reached  those  salt  and  borax  flats,  where  the 
surface  is  rougher  to  travel  on  than  can  be 
imagined,  the  salt  having  formed  in  sharp  spikes 
and  jagged  scales  with  their  edges  at  every  angle, 
and  shallow  pans  filled  with  dreadfully  salt  water. 
But  it  was  water,  and  many  of  the  party  sought 
thus  to  quench  their  thirst." 

"  Although  it  was  salt!  "  cried  Roger.  "  I 
should  think  it  would  have  made  them  crazy.'* 

"  It  did,"  responded  the  older  man.  "  The 
torture  of  an  unquenchable  thirst  with  no  means 
to  allay  it,  led  first  to  madness,  then  to  death, 
and  the  valley  claimed  a  fearful  toll.  Some  died 
outright,  others  became  maniacal,  several  indeed 
having  to  be  shot  by  their  comrades  in  an  effort  to 
save  the  lives  of  those  that  remained.  Few  an 
imals  and  fewer  men  found  their  way  to  the  scanty 
water  of  the  Panamint,  and  the  tale  as  told  by 
the  survivors  made  the  words  Death  Valley  a 
name  of  fear  to  the  *  Forty-Niners  '  and  other 
early  travelers  in  what  was  then  known  as  the 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       155 

1  Great  American  Desert.'  Death  Valley  it  was 
called,  and  Death  Valley  it  will  remain  until  all 
memory  of  America's  pioneers  is  past." 

1  i  And  is  the  Survey  working  in  there,  too  ?  ' ' 

"  I  happen  to  know  that  there  is  a  short  recon- 
noissance  trip  to  be  made  to  look  into  the  ques 
tion  of  the  borax  deposits  of  the  Valley  and  the 
Mohave  Desert,  and  if  you  start  right  away,  you 
ought  to  be  able  to  get  to  Daggett  a  week  before 
the  party  reaches  there,  or  at  the  slowest,  in 
plenty  of  time.  The  borax  industry  is  large,  and 
as  it  depends  in  a  great  measure  on  the  in 
formation  furnished  by  the  Survey,  it  might  be 
a  good  thing  for  you  to  know  something  about." 

"  And  how  shall  I  get  there?  " 

"  I  will  lend  you  Duke." 

"  Your  own  horse?  And  what  will  you  do,  Mr. 
Masseth?  " 

"  Oh,  I'll  take  Black's  mare,  and  let  him  ride 
one  of  the  mules  over.  I  am  none  too  anxious  to 
take  Duke  through  the  Canyon  any  more  than  I 
have  to." 

"  And  the  route?  "  queried  the  boy. 

"  You  will  not  find  any  difficulty  there,  I  think, 
because  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  follow  the  edge 
of  the  Canyon.  You  go  west  and  then  south,  over 


156        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

the  famous  Hurricane  Fault,  and  beside  that 
mighty  gate  a  mile  high  through  which  the  Col 
orado  runs,  passing  from  the  grandeur  of  the 
Canyon  to  the  dismal  torrid  lower  Sierra  coun 
try.  You  will  reach  the  Santa  Fe  at  Needles, 
where  you  can  take  the  train  for  Ludlow,  and 
changing  there  go  to  Daggett,  to  await  the  ar 
rival  of  the  party.  It  is  not  such  a  great  dis 
tance,  and  there  are  trails  all  the  way  to  Needles. 
But  remember,  you  are  still  under  my  direction, 
and  all  this  is  merely  incidental  to  the  main  piece 
of  work  I  require  of  you,  and  that  is,  the  helio 
graph  signal  on  October  21st." 

"  I'll  be  there,  Mr.  Masseth,"  said  Eoger 
quietly.  "  You  can  bank  on  me  for  that." 

The  boy  was  so  silent  on  his  way  back  to  camp 
that  Masseth  rallied  him  a  little  on  his  unusual 
reserve. 

11  Don't  you  want  to  go  into  the  Mohave  coun 
try!  "  he  said.  "  Because  if  you  feel  that  way, 
I  will  try  to  arrange  some  other  plan.  Only  I 
thought  you  might  wish  to  see  that  sort  of  coun 
try  and  get  an  idea  of  what  the  work  is  like  out 
there." 

"  Indeed  I  do,"  said  Eoger  hastily.  "  What 
made  you  think  I  didn  't !  " 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       157 

"  You  were  so  quiet  about  it.  And  quietness 
is  not  your  strong  point." 

"  It  isn't  that,"  said  Roger,  hastily,  "  but  I 
was  just  wondering  whether  I  would  be  able  to 
remember  all  the  scenes  and  incidents  of  the 
year." 

"  Not  all  of  them,  of  course,"  said  the  older 
man,  "  but  you  will  find  that  their  variety  in  ex 
perience  is  invaluable.  You  told  me  you  were 
going  to  Alaska  with  Rivers  later  on.  Now,  if  you 
have  seen  the  Death  Valley  work  as  well  as  tri- 
angulation  in  the  Grand  Canyon  and  surveying 
in  the  Minnesota  swamps,  you  will  have  a  fair 
idea  of  the  immense  range  of  the  work  of  the 
Survey. ' ' 

"It  is  a  contrast,  all  right,"  said  Roger. 
"  From  the  flat,  boggy  country  of  Minnesota  to 
the  high  dry  peaks  of  the  Canyon,  and  from  the  in 
tense  heat  of  the  desert  to  the  ice-bound  ranges 
of  Alaska  is  certainly  quite  a  jump.  But  I'm 
very  glad  to  have  the  chance,  Mr.  Masseth,  though 
I  shall  be  sorry  to  leave  you  and  the  rest  of  the 
party." 

That  evening  in  camp,  the  chief  announced  his 
intention  of  returning  to  the  far  side  of  the  Can 
yon,  and  stated  that  Roger  would  be  left  to  send 


158        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

a  heliograph  message  a  couple  of  months  later, 
and  that  in  the  meantime  he  would  visit  the  Mo- 
have  country  for  a  few  weeks. 

"  Why,"  commented  the  frontiersman,  when 
this  plan  was  unfolded,  "  I  was  figurin'  myself 
how  it  mightn't  be  so  worse  an  idea  to  prospect 
some  in  that  Silverbow  country,  now  that  I'm  'way 
over  here.  My  two  boys  are  working  a  small 
claim  of  mine  near  Oak  Springs  Butte,  an'  I've 
a  notion  that  there 's  a  heap  of  gold  in  that  Kawich 
country.  Guess  I'll  go  with  you  part  of  the  way 
to  Daggett,  pard;  that  is,  if  you're  agreeable." 

Nothing  could  have  suited  the  boy  better,  and 
his  exuberant  delight  in  the  prospect  of  his 
friend's  presence  throughout  the  long  ride  was  ob 
viously  pleasing  to  the  old  man. 

* '  That 's  a  go  then,  bub, ' '  he  said ;  "  if  you  want 
to  stick  to  the  old  trail  I'll  help  you  keep  it,  and 
if  you  want  to  find  a  new  one,  why,  I'll  just  fol 
low  right  along. ' ' 

"  But  when  are  you  going  to  break  camp,  Mr. 
Masseth?  "  asked  the  boy,  who  was  growing  a  lit 
tle  tired  of  the  continual  reference  to  his  crossing 
of  the  Canyon. 

"  The  day  after  to-morrow,  I  think,"  the  chief 
of  the  party  replied,  ' '  as  the  work  should  be  done 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       159 

by  that  time ;  so  you  can  start  the  same  day,  only 
in  the  opposite  direction." 

In  spite  of  Roger's  interest  in  going  to  a  new 
field,  however,  and  though  he  had  beside  him  his 
grizzled  friend,  one  of  the  keenest  twinges  of 
loneliness  the  boy  had  felt  while  on  the  Survey 
came  over  him  a  couple  of  days  later,  as  he  saw 
the  party  which  he  had  so  long  considered  as  his 
own,  ride  away  from  the  site  of  the  camp,  leav 
ing  the  frontiersman  and  himself  looking  after 
them.  He  would  much  have  preferred  being  the 
first  to  start,  but  as  the  main  party  had  to  cross 
the  Canyon,  movement  at  the  earliest  dawn  was 
necessary.  One  consolation  he  had  in  the  pos 
session  of  Duke,  the  chief's  horse  and  a  great 
favorite  with  the  boy. 

As  Eoger  and  his  friend  started  on  their  jour 
ney  westward,  the  boy  said : 

11  You  were  speaking  of  some  mines  out  this 
way.  Do  you  own  gold  mines  ?  ' ' 

"  No,  bub,  not  gold.  Wouldn't  have  'em  as  a 
gift." 

"  Why  not?  "  asked  the  lad,  surprised. 

"  Cost  too  much  to  work,  and  there's  no  money 
in  it.  You  know  the  old  saying  about  gold  mines, 
don't  you?  " 


160        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  No,  what  is  it?  " 

' '  That '  A  copper  mine  will  bring  you  gold ;  sil 
ver,  silver;  but  a  gold  mine  will  only  bring  you 
a  few  coppers!  ' 

"  I  never  heard  that  before,"  replied  the  lad, 
"  and  it  sounds  queer,  too." 

"Well,  it's  true.  I  wouldn't  mind  betting," 
said  the  old  pioneer,  "  that  there's  more  gold 
been  put  into  gold  mines  than  ever  was  taken  out 
of  them. ' ' 

"  How's  that?  " 

11  Well,  you  take  it  all  through.  There's 
the  time  and  money  spent  by  the  thousands  of 
prospectors  that  spend  all  their  lives  wandering 
up  and  down  the  mountains  trying  to  locate  the 
gold.  Then,  when  a  vein  is  found,  some  fellow's 
got  to  put  in  a  lot  of  capital  to  start  to  work  it, 
and  thousands  have  to  be  spent  for  machinery 
to  crush  it,  before  it  is  at  all  certain  that  the 
mine  will  pay.  Then,  in  order  to  raise  this 
money,  brokers  all  over  the  United  States  are 
selling  shares  of  these  mines,  and  they  make  a 
good  living  out  of  it.  And  when  you  think  how 
many  tens  of  thousands  of  dollars  are  spent  on 
each  mine,  and  how  many  thousands  of  mines 
there  are  which  have  proved  dead  failures,  and 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       161 

over  and  beyond  this,  how  narrow  the  margin  of 
profit  is  even  on  a  successful  strike,  it  doesn't  look 
like  much  of  a  paying  business,  eh?  ' 

The  trail  becoming  too  rough  at  this  point  for 
riding  side  by  side,  the  boy  dropped  behind, 
thinking  over  the  difference  between  the  finding 
of  gold  as  it  really  is,  and  as  his  adventurous 
ideas  had  supposed  it  to  be.  When  the  trail 
widened  again  the  boy  cantered  up,  and  continued 
the  former  subject  with  the  remark: 

"  Are  your  mines  copper,  then?  " 

"  No,  azurite." 

"  What's  that?  "  asked  the  boy,  who  had  never 
heard  of  it  before. 

11  It's  a  sort  of  stone  that  they  make  up  into  all 
sorts  of  jewels  that  women  wear.  Of  course  it's 
not  precious  like  sapphire  and  emerald  and  all 
that  sort  of  thing,  but  that's  perhaps  because 
it  is  not  as  well  known,  nor  as  rare.  It's  just 
as  pretty,  I  think.  I'd  rather  have  it  than 
a  gold  mine  or  a  copper  mine,  either,  for  that 
matter." 

"  Why?  "  asked  Eoger. 

' '  Because  it  can  be  worked  so  easily.  You  see 
a  small  box  of  that  stuff  can  be  packed  on  a  mule 
any  distance  and  then  shipped,  and  if  a  different 


162        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

point  is  used  each  time  no  one  knows  where  it 
comes  from  and  there  is  no  competition.  Now 
copper,  you  see,  is  only  valuable  in  large  quan 
tities,  and  it  needs  a  big  industry  to  run  it.  And 
of  this  rarer  sort  of  stuff,  there's  lots  of  it  around 
for  any  one  that  wants  to  look  for  it." 

11  What  sort  of  stuff?  " 

"  All  these  rare  mineral  earths.  The  clay 
that's  used  in  making  gas  mantles,  for  instance; 
or  there's  tungsten,  which  is  worth  a  lot  now  for 
making  the  wires  of  incandescent  light.  I've  a 
friend  who 's  rich  because  he  got  hold  of  a  deposit 
of  tungsten  from  reading  the  Geological  Survey 
bulletins.  There's  a  lot  more  of  it  in  the  Snake 
Eange  of  Nevada,  just  waiting  for  somebody 
who's  got  energy  enough  to  go  ahead  and  de 
velop  it." 

Thus,  throughout  the  entire  trip,  Eoger  found 
his  interest  in  the  work  greatly  whetted  by  this 
new  view-point,  looking  at  the  Survey  from  the 
side  of  the  shrewd  Western  man,  seeking  practical 
results,  rather  than  the  more  professional  and 
scientific  aspect  of  the  field  worker  himself.  In 
deed,  it  opened  the  boy's  eyes  immensely  to  the 
vastness  of  the  importance  of  the  department 
when  he  realized  that  there  was  scarcely  a  branch 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       163 

of  manufacture  that  did  not  depend  on  some  rare 
element,  in  some  of  its  processes,  and  that  these 
rare  elements  were  brought  to  light  in  the  very 
work  that  he  had  been  doing.  So  it  chanced  that 
when  Roger  and  his  friend  reached  Daggett,  he 
was  as  enthusiastic  concerning  the  economic  side 
of  the  work  as  he  had  been  regarding  its  oppor 
tunities  for  adventure. 

Masseth  had  estimated  the  time  of  the  party 
which  Roger  was  to  join  with  close  accuracy,  for 
the  boy  had  not  been  in  the  little  settlement  more 
than  three  days  when  the  party  rode  up,  all  on 
mules.  Roger  introduced  himself  and  presented 
Masseth 's  letter. 

"  Oh!  "  said  his  new  leader  in  surprise.  "  So 
you're  the  boy  who  crossed  the  Grand  Canyon 
alone !  I  heard  of  that  in  San  Bernardino,  some 
tourists  were  telling  the  story. ' ' 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Pedlar,"  said  Roger  with  a  flush. 
"  But  there  wasn't  so  much  to  it,  I  just  had  to 
get  across." 

"  Well,  I'm  glad  to  have  you.  Now  what  is 
your  idea  in  joining  us,  because  I  see  Mr.  Masseth 
says  that  you  are  still  on  duty  with  him." 

Roger  explained  the  two  months '  signal  that  had 
been  agreed  upon,  and  Pedlar,  tall  and  light  of 


164        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

hue,  as  though  the  desert  had  bleached  him, 
whistled  softly. 

"  He's  always  taking  long  chances,"  he  said, 
' '  but  to  do  him  justice  they  generally  come  out  all 
right.  As  I  understand  it,  then,  you  want  to 
come  along  for  a  few  weeks  and  then  get  back  to 
Bright  Angel  Point  in  plenty  of  time. ' ' 

"  Yes,  sir,"  the  boy  answered. 

"  Well,  that  will  be  about  right,  only  it's  not 
going  to  take  as  long  as  you  think.  It  will  be 
just  a  hurried  reconnoissance.  I  suppose  you 
know  why  we're  going  in?  ' 

"  Mr.  Masseth  said  something  about  borax," 
the  lad  replied,  "  but  he  didn't  say  just  what  you 
were  going  to  do." 

"  It's  this  way,  Doughty,"  was  the  reply. 
"  Borax,  you  know,  was  first  obtained  by  evapo 
rating  the  water  of  some  lakes  in  California. 
Later,  in  the  beds  of  some  old  dry  lakes,  the  borax 
was  found  already  evaporated  by  the  sun,  and 
for  years  these  marsh  crusts  formed  the  whole 
supply  of  the  country.  Then  the  Geological  Sur 
vey  pointed  out  that  before  these  lakes  were  dried 
up  the  borax  must  have  flowed  into  them  by  means 
of  some  small  streams  or  just  the  regular  drainage 
of  the  rainfall." 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       165 

"  You  mean,"  said  Roger,  interrupting,  "  that 
there  must  have  been  a  lot  of  it  near  by  some 
where,  and  that  each  rain  just  soaked  away  a  little 
and  brought  it  along." 

"  Exactly.  Therefore  it  was  up  to  the  Sur 
vey  to  locate  these  large  deposits,  and  this  was 
done.  A  large  bed  was  found  at  Borate,  about 
twelve  miles  northeast  of  here,  and  this  proved 
so  valuable  that  more  surveying  was  done, 
especially  in  the  region  about  Death  Valley, 
where  one  of  the  old  salt  marshes  was  lo 
cated.  ' ' 

"  Then  it  was  the  Survey  that  gave  to  the 
country  all  the  borax  it  is  now  using. ' ' 

"  It  was,"  replied  Pedlar.  "  Now,  you  see,  I 
am  making  a  hasty  trip  to  the  known  deposits, 
so  that  other  related  beds  can  be  pointed  out,  as 
each  new  find  adds  to  the  resources  of  the  coun 
try,  or,  in  other  words,  makes  the  United  States 
just  that  much  richer." 

"  How  is  that!  "  asked  the  boy.  "  The  gov 
ernment  doesn't  run  the  mines." 

"  No.  But  don't  you  see,  the  United  States 
means  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  if  the 
money  spent  on  borax  goes  to  American  pro 
ducers  in  American  fields  instead  of  to  Italy, 


1 66        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

where  so  much  of  it  went  before,  the  country  is 
richer  to  that  amount." 

Then,  putting  the  matter  as  simply  as  he  could, 
Pedlar  explained  to  the  boy  how  greatly  the  com 
mercial  prosperity  of  the  country  is  due  to  some 
of  the  lesser  known  government  bureaus,  and 
pointed  out  the  wisdom  of  the  fostering  of  Ameri 
can  industries.  Even  so,  it  was  not  until  the 
tangible  discovery  of  a  hitherto  unknown  bed  of 
rock  salt,  fifty  feet  in  thickness,  that  Eoger 
realized  how,  every  day  in  the  year,  the  pros 
perity  of  the  country  was  being  advanced  by  this 
patient  scientific  investigation.  The  new  salt  de 
posit  was  found  at  the  extreme  south  end  of 
Death  Valley,  a  few  miles  before  the  trail  went 
through  a  gap  in  the  Funeral  Mountains.  Skirt 
ing  the  Amargosa  Desert,  a  furnace  of  cactus  and 
alkali,  the  party  reached  Grapevine  Peak,  from 
which  may  be  seen  perhaps  the  most  desolate  and 
forbidding  view  in  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

"  Behind  you,"  broke  in  the  voice  of  the  chief, 
"  beginning  at  that  peak  you  see  fifty  miles  away 
in  the  distance,  and  which  is  known  as  Oak 
Springs  Butte,  is  a  section  of  the  country  contain 
ing  over  3,000  square  miles,  equal  in  size  to  the 
states  of  Delaware  and  Rhode  Island  together, 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       167 

which  is  absolutely  waterless.  In  that  appalling 
land  of  thirst  there  is  not  a  river,  stream,  or  brook ; 
a  spring  is  a  thing  unknown;  no  well  has  ever 
been  sunk,  and  even  the  Indian  waterhole  exists 
only  in  imagination.  At  rare,  very  rare  intervals, 
a  cloudburst  may  come  upon  the  parched  land, 
but  five  minutes  later  there  is  no  sign  of  moisture 
save  for  a  cup  in  a  ravine  or  a  crevice  in  a  rock, 
where  water  may  lie  for  twenty-four  hours.  It 
is  dryer  and  hotter  than  the  Great  Sahara  Des 
ert  of  Africa,  and  wild  and  rough  beyond 
belief." 

"  And  has  that  awful  place  been  covered  by  the 
Survey,  too  ?  ' '  asked  the  boy. 

11  I  did  one  quadrangle,"  answered  Pedlar, 
"  and  there's  a  party  in  there  this  season." 

"  But  how  do  they  manage  for  water?  ' 

"  They  tote  every  drop."  And,"  with  a  grim 
meaning,  "  they  are  not  taking  baths  twice  a  day 
at  that!  " 

"  On  this  other  side,"  continued  the  chief  of 
the  party  after  a  pause,  turning  round,  "  is  a 
place  you  know  well  by  reputation." 

"  That  is  the  famous  Death  Valley?  "  queried 
Eoger. 

'  *  That, ' '  said  the  chief,  putting  his  heels  to  the 


1 68        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

mule's  side  and  starting  down  the  slope,  "  is  the 
infamous  Death  Valley." 

Half-way  down  the  slope  Pedlar  halted  and 
pointed  to  a  sign  on  a  box  lid,  stuck  into  a  pile 
of  stone. 

"  Gruesome  advertising,  that!  "  he  commented. 

Eoger  read  it.  It  was  the  signboard  of  a  local 
undertaking  company,  and  the  implication  of  such 
a  need  for  every  one  descending  into  the  valley 
was  to  the  boy  more  sinister  than  any  of  the 
stories  he  had  heard  about  it.  As  they  reached 
the  valley,  dunes  twenty  to  thirty  feet  high  sur 
rounded  them  on  every  side,  with  a  salt  sand 
between,  sometimes  soft,  sometimes  with  a  treach 
erous  crust  through  which  the  hoofs  of  the  mules 
sank,  often  cutting  their  legs,  into  the  wounds  of 
which  the  alkaline  dust  penetrated,  causing  great 
pain.  The  boy  tore  his  coat  into  strips  to  bind 
around  the  pasterns  of  Duke,  but  even  so  some 
slight  scratches  were  unavoidable. 

They  journeyed  on  over  this  fearful  traveling 
for  many  weary  miles,  till,  suddenly,  Roger's 
quick  eyes,  eagerly  looking  for  new  things,  dis 
cerned  at  the  entrance  to  a  small  rock-bound  can 
yon  a  sliver  of  wood  broken  off  and  sticking  up 
right  in  the  sand.  As  wood  in  that  country  is  as 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       169 

unusual  as  it  would  be  to  see  a  shaft  of  burnished 
silver  protruding  from  the  arid  ground,  Roger 
rode  up  to  it.  There,  penciled  apparently  re 
cently  on  the  wood,  were  the  following  words : 

"  Have  gone  down  canyon  looking  for  the 
spring;  have  been  waiting  for  you. — Titus." 

The  boy  called  to  the  chief.  Pedlar  came  over 
and  read  the  message,  then  quietly  and  with  rever 
ence  removed  his  hat. 

'  *  Poor  chap !  "  he  said  very  softly.  '  *  There  is 
no  spring  in  that  canyon. ' ' 

He  summoned  the  other  members  of  the  party 
and  silently  they  rode  up  the  narrow  cleft.  Eoger 
and  the  chief  were  riding  in  advance,  and  after 
a  few  minutes'  ride  the  latter  pulled  his  mule  in 
sharply,  and  pointed  to  the  figure  of  a  man  lying 
near  a  rock  in  the  full  glare  of  the  sun. 

"  Perhaps  he  isn't  dead?  "  said  the  boy,  his 
heart  in  his  mouth. 

"  No  use  to  hope  that,  my  boy,"  was  the  grave 
reply.  "  See,  he  must  have  lain  down  in  the 
afternoon,  when  that  spot  was  shaded,  and  died 
before  the  next  sun  rose.  No  living  man  would 
lie  exposed  to  such  a  sun  as  this." 

They  rode  up.    It  was  as  the  chief  had  said, 


170        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

and  Titus 's  friend,  whoever  he  might  have  been, 
would  never  see  him  more. 

"  Shall  we  make  a  grave?  "  asked  Eoger  in  an 
awed  tone. 

' '  Better  in  the  little  cemetery  at  Rhyolite, ' '  an 
swered  the  other.  "  I  will  send  word." 

11  But  ought  we  not  to  make  a  pile  of  stones 
over  him,  or  something?  "  suggested  Roger,  his 
mind  full  of  thoughts  running  on  the  possibility 
of  interference  by  wild  beasts. 

"  Nothing  can  hurt  him  here,"  was  the  reply. 
"  Not  even  a  buzzard  will  haunt  so  desolate  a 

spot  as  this.  But  still '  he  paused.  Then 

thinking  that  it  might  ease  the  boy's  mind,  as 
well  as  show  respect  for  the  dead,  he  gave  orders 
to  raise  a  cairn  of  stones  over  the  body  of 
"  Titus." 

The  discovery  cast  a  gloom  over  the  party,  and 
the  penciled  piece  of  wood,  which  was  to  be  sent 
back  to  Rhyolite  to  be  used  instead  of  a  headstone, 
seemed  an  uncanny  thing  to  bear.  The  tragedy 
had  given  the  boy  a  violent  distaste  for  the  bleak 
country,  for  he  seemed  to  see  a  body  lying  under 
the  lee  of  every  cliff.  He  was  glad  when  they 
reached  civilization  again,  and  he  could  turn  his 
face  away  from  the  land  of  sage  brush  and  alkali. 


WHERE  IT  NEVER  RAINS       171 

When  lie  came  to  bid  farewell  to  Mr.  Pedlar, 
however,  the  latter  looked  at  him  a  little  keenly. 

"  I  could  see,"  the  older  man  said,  "  that  the 
Titus  Canyon  matter  worked  a  little  on  your 
nerves.  Now,  I  don't  want  you  to  feel  that  you 
must  get  hard,  for  you  will  find  that  the  finest  and 
most  daring  men  in  the  world  are  often  as  tender 
as  a  woman,  but  it  contains  a  most  important  les 
son  for  you." 

"  And  that  is?  "  queried  Roger. 

"  That  it  is  only  the  fool  who  over-estimates 
his  own  strength." 


CHAPTER  IX 

A  FIRST-CLASS   BUCKING   MULE 

As  there  was  yet  a  month  to  elapse  before 
Roger's  "  engagement  with  the  sun,"  as  Masseth 
had  called  it,  and  the  journey  to  the  Grand  Can 
yon  would  not  take  more  than  eight  or  nine  days, 
the  boy  felt  little  desirous  either  of  waiting  about 
the  desert  country  or  of  going  back  to  the  Can 
yon  ahead  of  time.  It  was  practically  a  vacation 
for  him,  he  had  plenty  of  money  in  his  pocket,  a 
good  horse  between  his  knees,  the  prestige  of  a 
government  appointment  at  his  back,  and  the 
recollection  of  the  gloomy  Mohave  country  to  wipe 
out. 

The  reconnoissance  party  had  left  him  at  Olan- 
cha,  at  the  southern  extremity  of  Owens  Lake,  a 
land  of  black  volcanic  lava  and  great  beds  of  tuff. 
After  the  dazzling  white  of  salt  and  borate  de 
posits;  the  great  sheets  of  black  lava,  and  the 
heights  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  behind,  formed  so 
strong  a  contrast  that  Roger  could  hardly  be 
lieve  that  the  two  were  but  a  couple  of  days'  ride 

172 


A  BUCKING  MULE  173 

from  each  other.  Towering  over  all,  moreover, 
could  be  seen  Mt.  Whitney,  the  sentinel  peak  of 
the  southern  end  of  the  Sierra,  snow-capped  and 
majestic,  and  Eoger  conceived  the  idea  of  riding 
thitherward  to  gain  some  idea  of  the  life  and 
scenery  of  the  mountain- side. 

A  few  hours'  ride  brought  him  to  Lone  Pine, 
where  he  put  up  for  the  night.  In  the  course  of 
casual  conversation  with  some  of  the  men  in  the 
little  frame  hotel,  Roger  mentioned  that  he  was 
with  the  Geological  Survey.  This  announcement 
he  had  found  it  necessary  to  make  in  a  number 
of  instances,  for  in  that  Western  country  a  man's 
business  is  not  regarded  as  a  matter  especially 
to  be  kept  secret. 

"  Sho!  "  said  one  of  the  men,  just  in  from  a 
big  cattle  ranch.  "  I  presoom,  then,  that  you 
propose  to  hitch  up  with  that  peak-climbin' 
outfit?  " 

11  Is  there  a  geological  reconnoissance  party 
near  here,  then  ?  ' '  queried  Eoger  interestedly. 

"  A  what?  " 

"  A  geological  reconnoissance  party,"  repeated 
the  boy,  "  a  government  survey." 

''Geological  reconnoissance  is  good!"  ex 
claimed  the  Westerner.  "  If  that  salubrious 


174        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

phrase  is  a  maverick,  I  reckon  I'll  brand  it  and  in 
deed  it  in  my  string.  But  there  was  a  bunch 
here  the  other  day,  with  three-legged  telescopes 
and  barbers'  poles,  just  like  what  you  describe." 

11  How  long  ago?  "  asked  the  boy. 

"  'Bout  a  week,  I  surmise.  An '  they  can 't  have 
got  any  thousand  miles  away,  either,  because,  as 

I  understood     'em,    they    was    a-contemplatin' 
drawin'  little  picture-maps  of  the  country  as  they 
went  along." 

Roger  nodded  understandingly. 

"  I  know,"  he  said,  "  that's  just  the  delineation 
of  the  topographical  contour." 

The  Westerner 's  jaw  dropped  for  a  moment,  but 
he  was  game,  and  came  right  up  to  the  scratch. 

"  Topographical    contour    I    like!  "    he    said. 

II  This  is  our  busy  day  on  language.    It  may  be 
a  new  sort  of  drink  for  all  I  know,  but  it  sounds 
well.    I  presoom,  partner,  that  you  had  better 
lend  your  valooable  assistance  to  the  delineation 
of   the    topographical   contour   on   a    geological 
reconnoissance !  " 

He  looked  round  for  the  applause  of  the  little 
gathering,  which  was  readily  and  gleefully  ac 
corded  him. 

The  boy  laughed.    "  All  right,"  he  said,  "  I'll 


A  BUCKING  MULE  175 

take  my  medicine.  I  hadn't  noticed  that  it  would 
seem  like  tall  talk,  but  that's  the  way  the  men 
speak  on  the  Survey." 

"  Which  I've  no  objection,  son,"  answered  the 
other.  "I'm  allers  willin'  to  rope  and  hog-tie  a 
new  bunch  o'  words,  an'  I  has  gratitood  there 
for." 

' '  You  all  remember, ' '  broke  in  another  speaker, 
"  the  time  when  Ginger  Harry's  gun-play  was 
choked  off  by  the  vocab'lary  Little  Doc  un 
loaded?  " 

And  Roger,  seeing  the  conversation  pass  into 
other  hands,  was  glad  to  retire  from  the  center  of 
the  stage  in  which  he  had  unexpectedly  found 
himself,  and  listened  for  all  he  was  worth  to  the 
reminiscences  of  the  days  when  cowboy  life  had 
not  been  spoiled  by  railroad  tracks  and  barbed- 
wire  fences. 

Early  the  next  morning,  however,  taking  with 
him  a  few  days'  provisions,  Roger  started  up  the 
trail  which  had  been  pointed  out  to  him  as  the 
one  the  survey  party  had  taken  a  few  days  pre 
viously,  and  his  now  trained  eye  could  easily  de 
tect  where  halts  had  been  made  and  bench  marks 
established  for  the  mapping  out  of  the  contour 
of  the  country.  At  the  same  time  he  noticed  that 


176        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

the  party  was  pushing  on  rapidly,  and  by  this  he 
judged  that  the  climbing  of  the  peak  was  one  of 
the  objects  of  the  expedition. 

He  had  reached  quite  a  sharp  slope  in  the  moun 
tain,  and  was  letting  Duke  take  the  trail  slowly 
and  quietly,  when  suddenly  he  heard  above  him 
a  sharp  blow,  and  then,  far  up  the  mountain-side 
a  faint,  "  ting-ling-ling-ling  "  and  a  moment's 
pause,  then  louder,  "  crackety-crack-crack-crack  " 
and  then,  with  a  tumult  of  crashes  and  whangs,  a 
large  tin  pail  went  clattering  down  the  mountain. 

Roger  looked  up,  and  from  the  heights  above 
him  there  floated  down  a  vociferous  and  fluent 
torrent  of  language,  which,  even  at  that  distance, 
sounded  strange  and  barbarous  to  the  boy's  ears. 
Using  his  field-glasses,  moreover,  he  could  distin 
guish  a  figure  leaning  over  a  ledge  some  distance 
above,  and  by  the  long  cue  he  could  see  it  was  a 
Chinaman.  The  sight  gave  him  great  encourage 
ment,  for  he  knew  that  the  party  he  was  following 
had  with  it  a  Chinese  cook,  named  Ti  Sing,  well 
known  in  that  region,  and  one  of  the  most  valued 
cooks  in  the  Survey. 

Eealizing  that  he  was  near  his  goal  the  boy 
hurried  on,  and  soon  overtook  the  party  beside 
a  small  river  with  a  swollen  stream,  a  recent 


A  BUCKING  MULE  177 

cloudburst  having  filled  to  overflowing  a  creek 
usually  fordable.  The  water  would,  of  course,  go 
down  in  a  day  or  two,  but  the  men  did  not  want 
to  wait.  The  building  of  a  bridge  seemed  al 
most  beyond  feasibility,  as  the  banks  were  flat 
and  there  was  no  way  to  get  across  with  a  rope 
even,  for  the  first  span. 

As  it  chanced,  the  head  of  the  party,  with  the 
assistant  topographer,  had  taken  a  little  side  trip 
off  the  trail,  and  the  packers  were  annoyed  by 
being  stopped  in  this  way. 

* '  I  reckon  Saracen  could  find  a  way,  all  right, ' ' 
said  one  of  the  men,  "  but  I  shore  do  feel  like  a 
fool  to  wait  for  him  to  come  up  and  show  us  old- 
timers  what  to  do." 

Numberless  suggestions  had  been  made,  and 
Roger's  presence  as  a  stranger  had  kept  him  si 
lent,  but  thinking  perhaps  that  he  could  be  of 
some  use,  he  spoke  in  an  aside  to  the  first  speaker 
and  suggested  to  him  a  possible  means,  which  he 
had  heard  as  having  been  done  in  a  similar  case 
by  Herold.  He  gave  the  packer  the  idea,  and  told 
him  to  go  ahead  with  it  as  though  it  were  a  plan 
of  his  own  devising. 

"  You  see,"  said  Roger,  "  it  would  seem  like 
an  intrusion  if  it  came  from  me." 


178        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  Nothing  o'  the  kind,"  said  the  other  roughly. 
"  I'm  not  going  to  steal  another  man's  ideas  and 
put  them  out  as  my  own.  What  do  you  think  I 
am?  Here,  boys,"  he  continued,  "  this  young 
ster  has  an  idea  that  he  says  has  been  proved  be 
fore.  Let's  try  it.  Tell  us  about  it,  son." 

Eoger  flushed  hot  at  being  brought  before  a 
group  of  men  he  had  never  seen  till  that  day, 
but  he  spoke  up  bravely. 

"  It  doesn't  seem  right,  I  know,"  he  said,  "  for 
me  to  do  any  talking,  but  I  know  of  a  scheme  that 
might  work  here,  if  you  thought  it  would  go. 
Work  it  just  like  you  do  a  canoe  in  tracking.  You 
know  with  a  rope  from  bow  to  stern,  going  against 
the  current,  if  you  pull  on  the  bow,  it  will  swerve 
in  and  on  the  stern  it  will  sweep  out?  ' 

"  That's  right!  "  agreed  several  of  the  men. 

"  Well,"  went  on  the  boy,  "  it  would  be  pretty 
easy  to  get  a  tree  half-way  across,  wouldn't  it? 
Drop  a  tree  in  the  river,  fasten  the  butt  end  to 
shore,  and  then  let  the  top  sweep  out  into  the 
stream,  fastening  the  rope  when  it  was  out  at  a 
sharp  angle  up  stream." 

"  Any  fool  can  do  that,"  said  one  of  the  party 
scornfully,  ' l  but  you  might  just  as  well  be  on  this 
side  as  only  half-way  across." 


A  BUCKING  MULE  179 

"  Dry  up,  Hank,  and  don't  get  grouchy,"  said 
the  first  speaker,  "  the  boy  isn't  through." 

11  I  thought  then,"  continued  Roger,  with  a 
grateful  glance  at  his  ally,  "  that  another  tree 
could  be  cut  down,  away  up  the  river,  butt  end 
first.  Two  ropes  on,  same  as  the  other.  Then, 
keeping  the  top  down  stream  and  checking  off  the 
ropes  gradually,  the  current  would  sweep  the  tree 
to  the  other  side  of  the  stream.  Let  it  float  until 
the  branches  of  the  second  tree  interlocked  with 
those  of  the  first,  held  tight  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream.  Then  slack  up  the  butt  end  of  the  second 
tree,  and  as  it  swung  round  it  would  hit  the  bank 
on  the  further  shore,  and  there  is  your  bridge 
made." 

"  That  would  read  all  right  in  a  book," 
grumbled  the  discontented  one,  "  but  a  river  like 
that  isn't  any  child's  kite  business." 

"  But  I  didn't  get  it  out  of  a  book,"  replied  the 
boy,  a  little  hotly.  ' '  Mr.  Herold,  the  geographer, 
told  me  that,  and  said  that  it  had  been  done  on 
some  of  the  swollen  streams  of  the  Glacier  Na 
tional  Park  in  Montana,  where  the  streams  are 
hard  to  cross." 

His  former  friend  also  came  to  the  boy's  sup 
port. 


i8o        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  There  is  a  lot  of  chance  work  in  it,"  he  said 
quietly, ' '  but  the  plan  sounds  all  right  to  me.  Of 
course,  if  the  second  tree  behaves  like  you  say  it 
should  it  would  be  all  right,  but  there  isn't  any 
guaranty  that  it  will.  But  it's  worth  the  trying, 
and  any  thing's  better  than  standing  here  like  a  lot 
of  dummies  waiting  for  somebody  to  come  along 
and  tell  us  what  to  do." 

One  of  the  members  of  the  party  having  been 
detailed  to  look  up  two  suitable  trees,  and  another 
to  find  out  the  narrowest  and  most  convenient 
place  in  the  river,  it  was  not  long  before  the  two 
trees  were  down  and  dragged  to  their  respective 
places  on  the  bank.  Eoger's  friend  desired  him  to 
assume  direction  of  the  work,  which  Koger  re 
fused  to  do. 

"  It  isn't  my  plan,  anyway,"  he  said.  "  As  I 
told  you  it  is  only  something  I  heard,  and  I 
wouldn't  dream  of  thinking  that  I  know  as  much 
about  the  way  of  going  at  it  as  any  of  you,"  a 
modest  speech  which  won  him  favor,  even  with  the 
disgruntled  packer. 

The  launching  of  the  first  tree,  however,  proved 
so  easy,  the  current  carried  it  to  its  place  with  so 
much  readiness  that  all  were  encouraged.  It  was 
securedly  anchored  at  the  shore  and  pointed  up 


Photograph  by  U.S.G.A. 

BRIDGED  I?Y  "  DOUBLE  TREE." 

Foaming1  mountain  torrent,  too  powerful  to  cross  for  miles, 
and  its  source  hidden  in  inaccessible  ravines. 


A  BUCKING  MULE  181 

stream,  with,  little  difficulty.  But  the  second  tree, 
owing  to  having  been  too  short,  proved  a  failure 
at  the  first  attempt,  and  it  was  not  until  a  tree  of 
just  the  right  height  had  been  secured  that  success 
was  attained.  The  second  time,  the  tree  drifted 
quietly  down,  entangled  in  the  branches  of  the 
other  tree,  according  to  programme,  and  the  butt 
being  slackened  away  it  landed  fair  and  true  upon 
the  other  shore.  Without  delay  one  of  the  most 
active  of  the  men  crawled  out  and  lashed  the  two 
trees  together,  then  crawled  over  the  second  tree 
and  stood  on  the  further  shore  triumphant. 

But  it  must  be  admitted  that  while  the  passage 
had  been  achieved,  it  was  a  perilous  one  at  best. 
The  current  foamed  over  the  trunks  of  the  trees 
and  fairly  boiled  through  the  intertwined 
branches.  Bit  by  bit,  all  that  the  mules  had  car 
ried  in  their  packs  was  taken  over,  even  the  sad 
dles  being  borne  over  this  arboreal  bridge.  Great 
as  had  been  the  difficulty  of  making  the  bridge, 
scarcely  less  hard  was  it  to  make  Ti  Sing  cross. 
He  called  on  all  his  gods,  in  eighteen  several  and 
distinct  dialects  of  Chinese,  but  the  men  were 
obdurate,  and  with  one  pulling  him  in  front  and 
another  pushing  him  behind,  he  was  at  last 
brought  over. 


182        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Then  a  rope  was  stretched  from  shore  to  shore, 
passing  through  a  loose  ring.  This  was  fastened 
to  the  girth  of  a  mule,  one  rope  was  tied  to  his 
head  to  keep  him  from  drowning  and  another  to 
his  tail  to  make  him  keep  his  temper,  for  a  mule 
can't  get  irritated  with  his  tail  tied,  and  thus,  half- 
drowned  and  altogether  weary,  the  mules  were  got 
across,  just  as  the  chief  of  the  party  came  up. 
He  said  nothing  until  with  his  assistant  he  had 
crossed  and  seen  the  animals  over  safely,  then 
turning  to  the  packer : 

"  Whose  ideal  "  he  asked  briefly. 

The  man  pointed  to  Eoger  in  reply,  and  the 
chief  walked  over  to  where  he  stood,  watching  the 
men  chaff  Ti  Sing  about  the  missing  tin  pail. 

"  That's  an  old  trick  of  Herold's,"  he  said, 
"  but  I  never  heard  of  any  one  else  using  it. 
Where  did  you  get  hold  of  the  idea,  boy?  ' 

"  From  Mr.  Herold,  sir,"  answered  Roger. 
"  He  told  me  about  it  before  I  started  into  the 
field." 

"  Oh,  you're  on  the  Survey,  then.  What 
party?  " 

"  Mr.  Masseth's. 

11  Then  what  in  thunder  are  you  doing  up 
here?  " 


A  BUCKING  MULE  183 

So  Roger  recounted  to  him  his  story,  showing 
that  he  had  to  return  to  the  Canyon  in  a  few  weeks, 
but  that  he  couldn't  see  any  fun  in  lying  around 
waiting  for  the  time  to  pass.  He  pointed  out  that 
he  was  especially  anxious  to  fit  himself  for  work 
in  Alaska,  and  quoted  Elvers'  dictum  as  to  the 
experience  he  would  need. 

"  Well,"  replied  Saracen,  "  I  guess  that's  right 
enough.  You've  just  come  to  see  the  Sierra 
country.  "We're  not  going  to  stay  long  on  this 
side,  and  after  I  get  through  with  this  little  bit  of 
peak — which  was  the  reason  of  the  crossing  that 
stream — we  shall  go  to  the  other  side  of  the  moun 
tain,  where  I  can  put  you  on  the  main  trail.  By 
that  means  you  will  have  a  couple  of  weeks  up 
here,  and  still  be  able  to  get  back  to  the  Canyon 
to  finish  that  bit  of  work  you  are  pledged  to  do 
there." 

Roger  thanked  him  heartily,  and  began  his  ten 
days  of  mountain  climbing,  an  experience  utterly 
new,  for  even  the  scrambling  up  and  down  the 
terraced  cliffs  of  the  Colorado  was  a  different 
matter  from  the  scaling  of  apparently  inaccessible 
crags,  where  the  climber  faced  no  little  peril  in 
making  the  ascent.  Further,  in  order  to  do  the 
drawing  after  he  got  up,  he  would  have  to  be  tied 


1 84        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

on  and  have  the  plane  table  tied,  while  working  on 
a  knife-blade  ledge  all  day. 

Some  few  days  after  his  arrival,  Roger  had 
the  unexpected  opportunity  of  seeing  a  mule  train 
possessed  by  fear,  and  watching  a  mule  buck. 
Mules  rarely  buck,  so  the  lad  was  conscious  of  the 
value  of  the  experience.  It  happened  on  a  fairly 
wide  trail,  but  which  sloped  considerably  to  the 
side  of  the  mountain,  and  Roger  was  riding  beside 
the  chief  of  the  party.  Suddenly  a  loud  commo 
tion  was  heard  in  the  rear  of  the  pack  train,  and 
Saracen  and  Roger  reined  up.  Duke,  always 
restive  and  nervous,  began  to  prance  about,  show 
ing  evidence  of  real  fear,  and  while  Roger  was  a 
good  horseman  and  kept  his  seat  easily,  he  could 
not  keep  the  beast  on  the  trail,  and  the  bay  danced 
off  to  the  side,  where  on  the  turf,  three  or  four 
yards  from  the  beaten  track,  he  brought  him, 
snorting  and  trembling,  to  a  standstill. 

Then  he  had  time  to  look  about  him.  On  the 
trail  immediately  above  him,  the  lead  mule,  be 
stridden  by  Saracen,  was  performing  evolutions 
that  would  not  have  disgraced  a  trick  circus  beast, 
cavorting  and  pirouetting  and  bucking,  evidently 
longing  to  bolt,  but  held  down  by  the  iron  hand  of 
his  rider.  Just  as  the  beast  was  a  little  quieted 


A  BUCKING  MULE  185 

and  Roger  thought  of  resuming  the  trail,  there 
came  a  clattering  of  hoofs,  and  whish !  a  runaway 
mule  flashed  by,  arousing  Duke  and  the  lead  mule 
to  a  new  exhibition  of  bucking.  Eoger  soon  had 
his  mount  pacified,  but  Saracen  was  getting  angry, 
and  was  applying  whip  and  spurs  without  stint, 
to  no  purpose,  for  a  couple  of  minutes  later  an 
other  of  the  pack  train's  mules  came  down  tearing 
up  the  dust,  then  two  together  in  a  panic  of 
stampede. 

All  the  while  the  lead  mule,  held  to  one  place  by 
a  grip  that  never  relaxed  for  an  instant,  plunged 
and  reared  and  strained  every  nerve  to  unseat  his 
rider.  Next  came  a  salvo  of  shouts  and  objurga 
tions,  and  two  of  the  packers  hurtled  along  the 
trail,  sawing  at  the  mouths  of  their  animals,  but 
utterly  unable  to  hold  them  in,  and  indeed,  nar 
rowly  escaping  being  ridden  over  by  the  rest  of 
the  pack  mules  following.  Saracen  always  de 
clared  that  his  mule  counted  each  animal  as  it 
went  by,  but  certain  it  is  that  no  sooner  had  the 
last  of  the  pack  train  vanished  in  the  distance  than 
the  lead  mule  steadied  down.  No  damage  had 
been  done  save  that  the  rider 's  hat,  though  strongly 
fastened  on,  had  been  bucked  off.  A  few  minutes 
later,  back  came  the  other  men,  who  curiously 


1 86        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

enough  were  in  similar  case!  The  three  hats  were 
found  close  together  on  the  trail. 

When  an  investigation  was  made,  no  known 
cause  could  be  found  to  account  for  the  sudden 
bolt,  except  that  a  white  mule,  one  of  the  last  in 
the  train,  had  become  suddenly  frightened,  pos 
sibly  because  there  was  a  bear  in  the  neighbor 
hood,  and  had  started  to  run,  bunting  into  the 
mule  next  in  the  lead,  and  thus  communicating  the 
fright  all  the  way  along  the  line.  Fortunately  no 
mishaps  had  occurred,  and  though  some  of  the 
packs  had  shaken  loose,  none  had  been  thrown  and 
nothing  was  lost. 

The  very  next  day  after  this,  the  mule  in  ques 
tion,  which,  by  the  way,  was  the  only  white  mule  in 
the  party,  quietly  slipped  off  the  side  of  a  cliff 
with  a  drop  of  one  hundred  and  forty  feet,  landed 
upside  down  on  the  pack-saddle,  bounced  twenty 
feet  farther,  and  then  quietly  got  up,  shook  him 
self,  and  began  to  graze.  Being  white,  the  mule 
was  easily  visible,  and  as  it  was  seen  that  he  was 
not  hurt  and  in  the  pack  were  certain  things  al 
most  indispensable,  it  was  decided  to  go  down  and 
recover  him. 

When  this  was  pointed  out,  Roger,  thinking  that 
it  might  take  some  time  to  recover  the  mule,  felt 


Phcitoyraph  by  U.S.O.S. 


IP  HE  SHOULD  SLIP  ! 


The  Chief  Geographer  making-  a  plane-table  station,  10,996  feet 
above  sea  level.     Note  how  table  is  tied  on. 


A  BUCKING  MULE  187 

that  he  would  be  wiser 'to  start  on  his  journey  for 
the  Canyon,  and  finding  out  the  nearest  trail  from 
the  chief  of  the  party,  hp  started  back  to  fulfil  his 
"  engagement  with  the  sun."  Having  plenty  of 
time,  he  took  the  trip  quietly,  reaching  Lone  Pine 
a  few  days  later,  and  making  his  way  south  to  the 
railroad  at  Mohave. 

There  he  encountered  a  young  fellow  on  his  way 
to  Washington  with  some  special  news  of  the  dis 
covery  of  important  fossils  by  one  of  the  branches 
of  the  Geological  Survey,  and  Koger,  to  his  sur 
prise,  found  another  avenue  of  science  covered  by 
that  department  of  the  government  to  which  he 
had  become  so  proud  of  belonging.  This  young 
fellow  had  been  working  in  the  bone-bearing 
strata  for  several  months,  and  some  extremely 
valuable  finds  had  been  made  which  were  to  be 
placed  in  the  Smithsonian  Museum. 

With  this  comrade  to  while  away  the  journey  it 
seemed  but  little  time  to  Roger  until  they  reached 
Needles,  where  the  lad  took  to  the  saddle  again.  It 
was  all  familiar  ground  to  him  now  and  no  trouble 
was  sustained  in  reaching  the  little  camp  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Canyon  where  he  had  been  bid 
den  signal.  He  arrived  three  days  before  the 
appointed  time,  desiring  rather  to  be  sure  than  to 


i88        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

run  the  risk  of  some  accident  delaying  him.  He 
found  the  provisions  cached  safely  and  knew 
where  to  go  for  water.  After  making  sure  that 
the  little  instrument  and  the  glass  had  not  been 
touched,  the  boy  having  carried  the  key  about  his 
neck  the  entire  two  months,  he  settled  down  for 
his  three  days'  wait. 

The  night  before  the  date  appointed,  having  a 
vague  fear  lest  he  might  oversleep  himself,  though 
it  was  a  thing  he  had  not  done  in  all  the  time  he 
had  been  on  the  Survey,  the  boy  lay  down  in  front 
of  the  little  glass,  wedging  himself  in  so  that  he 
could  not  move,  and  having  the  glass  pointed  so 
that  the  rays  of  the  rising  sun  would  be  directed 
immediately  into  his  eyes.  It  was  not  a  com 
fortable  night's  rest,  but  the  plan  operated  like  a 
charm,  for  the  sun's  rim  had  hardly  more  than 
appeared  above  the  horizon  when  the  reflected 
rays  shone  directly  into  his  face  and  wakened  him 
instantly. 

He  got  up  without  delay,  and  though  consider 
able  time  was  to  elapse,  prepared  all  before  his 
breakfast.  That  meal  done,  he  sat  beside  his 
heliograph  to  await  the  time.  There  was  a  varia 
tion  of  a  minute  and  a  half  between  the  two 
watches,  and  Eoger  thought  it  better  to  take  the 


A  BUCKING  MULE  189 

later  time,  for,  he  reasoned,  if  Masseth  was  there 
he  would  be  sure  to  wait,  while  if  he  flashed  too 
early,  his  chief  might  not  be  ready. 

Promptly  at  the  hour,  therefore,  the  light 
shining  equally  about  the  edges  of  the  quarter- 
inch  hole,  he  raised  the  cloth  shutter  that  had  been 
in  front  of  the  aperture  and  three  times  let  the 
strong  light  shine  through.  He  almost  fancied 
that  he  could  see  the  reflection  on  the  distant  peak. 

Five  minutes  elapsed,  then  he  repeated  the  sig 
nal,  three  flashes  of  ten  seconds'  duration,  as  had 
been  agreed  upon.  Then,  suddenly  and  unexpect 
edly,  he  saw  on  the  distant  peak  to  which  he  was 
signaling,  an  answering  triple  flash.  He  waited 
the  required  time,  five  minutes,  then  gave  the  old 
signal,  but  followed  it  by  three  quick  flashes  of  a 
second  apiece.  This  was  answered  in  the  same 
manner,  telling  the  boy  that  not  only  had  his  signal 
been  seen,  but  also  that  his  answer  to  the  response 
had  been  observed  and  that  everything  was  right. 

Thus,  across  seven  miles  of  the  roughest  coun 
try  in  the  world,  did  Roger  receive  his  official  re 
lease  and  message  of  farewell  from  the  Grand 
Canyon  party  he  had  served  so  faithfully. 


CHAPTEE  X 

AMERICANS   THAT   ABE   FORGOTTEN 

THE  elation  that  Roger  felt  over  the  successful 
issue  of  the  heliograph  message  with  which  he  had 
been  intrusted  soon  dwindled  away  under  the 
realization  that  he  did  not  know  what  was  coming 
next.  The  only  instructions  he  had  received  were 
that  he  was  to  take  Duke  to  Prescott,  Ariz.,  there 
to  leave  him  with  certain  friends  of  Masseth's 
who  would  take  care  of  him.  Masseth  had  also 
told  him  to  call  for  his  mail,  and  of  course  the 
presumption  was  that  he  would  there  receive  no 
tice  as  to  the  next  step  in  his  Survey  work.  But 
for  the  moment  he  was  masterless,  and  the  boy  felt 
a  little  lost. 

So  when  Roger  had  packed  the  little  heliograph 
instrument  in  as  small  compass  as  possible,  in  or 
der  that  it  might  not  be  ungainly  in  the  saddle,  and 
gone  to  the  edge  of  the  Canyon  to  look  over,  the 
scene  struck  him  with  loneliness.  In  precisely  the 
same  place,  two  months  before,  he  had  stood  and 

made  up  his  mind  to  risk  the  peril  of  that  single- 

190 


FORGOTTEN  AMERICANS      191 

handed  journey,  and  his  courage  began  to  revive 
as  he  remembered  how  well  it  had  resulted. 
Down  below  him  he  could  see  Bright  Angel  Creek, 
and  far  away,  the  peak  to  which  he  had  signaled, 
all  redolent  of  the  interest  of  the  summer  now  fast 
waning.  Even  the  trail  upon  which  he  set  out  to 
return  was  full  of  the  memories  of  his  fron 
tiersman  friend,  who  had  lightened  the  way  with 
anecdote  and  information  on  his  first  journey 
there. 

But  while  Eoger  was  inly  conscious  of  a  feeling 
of  isolation  in  being  thus  cut  off  from  all  the 
Survey  parties,  and  looked  forward  to  his  ride  to 
Needles  with  little  anticipation,  that  sense  was 
not  shared  by  Duke,  who,  having  twice  before  with 
Eoger  traversed  the  high  Kaibab  plateau,  remem 
bered  well  the  succulent  long  bunch-grass,  the 
fragrant  lupine  and  the  toothsome  wild  oats.  For 
the  Kaibab  plateau,  lying  high  and  therefore  being 
moister  than  the  surrounding  territory,  is  a  veri 
table  garden.  The  gently  declining  ravines,  in 
stead  of  being  filled  with  boulders  at  the  bottom, 
are  decked  with  flowers  and  their  bases  are  ave 
nues  of  smooth,  rich  lawn;  on  the  banks  rise 
spruces  and  pines,  with  the  white  trunks  and  pale 
foliage  of  the  quivering  aspen;  and  on  the  table- 


192        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

land  above  in  wild  profusion  grow  every  sort  of 
herb  and  plant  and  flower. 

The  desert  lies  to  the  north,  the  inaccessible 
Canyon  to  the  south,  an  alkali  waste  to  the  west 
ward,  and  the  desolate  cactus  land  to  the  east,  but 
the  Kaibab  plateau,  8,000  feet  above  the  sea,  is  a 
sylvan  paradise.  Yet  there  is  no  running  water, 
and  travel  over  it  must  be  well  within  reach  of 
trails.  Here  alone,  in  this  vast  arid  tract,  it  rains 
frequently,  but  the  rains  form  no  streams,  for  the 
whole  plateau  is  pitted  with  cups  or  depressions 
ten  to  twenty  feet  across,  into  which  the  water 
runs,  and  through  which  by  some  underground 
passages  it  disappears  only  to  swell  in  some  in 
visible  manner  the  swollen  torrent  of  the  Colorado, 
6,000  feet  below. 

Through  this  plateau  Eoger  rode  slowly,  enjoy 
ing  its  peacefulness  the  while.  No  great  hurry 
consumed  him,  his  present  work  was  done,  and 
until  he  reached  Prescott,  he  was  his  own  master. 
Duke,  moreover,  had  fared  ill  in  the  hard  riding  of 
the  past  few  weeks,  and  so  it  was  by  very  easy 
stages  that  the  boy  crossed  the  Kaibab,  and  in 
deed,  loafed  one  whole  week  in  the  wonderful  De 
La  Motte  Park,  in  the  midst  of  the  plateau,  to  give 
his  horse  a  rest  and  to  let  him  fill  out  his  bones  a 


FORGOTTEN  AMERICANS      193 

little  on  the  succulent  grasses.  A  most  beautiful 
country  to  enter — and  a  hard  one  to  leave.  No 
artificial  maze  is  more  confusing,  for  enticing  as 
the  ravines  are,  they  are  all  exactly  alike,  no  land 
marks  exist  by  which  a  direction  may  be  followed, 
and  the  valleys  themselves  wind  and  double  like  a 
frightened  hare. 

Roger,  however,  had  crossed  this  forest  the  first 
time  with  the  frontiersman,  who  knew  the  trails 
like  a  book,  and  he  had  learned  the  general  lie  of 
the  country  from  him.  Besides,  the  lad  had  im 
bibed  enough  woodcraft  since  his  appointment  on 
the  Survey  to  enable  him  to  follow  a  trail,  no  mat 
ter  how  faint  or  tortuous,  a  thing  which  even  the 
Mormon  herders  who  follow  the  mazes  of  the  wood 
with  a  keenness  equal  to  that  of  the  Indians,  and 
with  more  intelligence,  admit  is  a  difficult  thing 
to  do. 

But  idleness  was  in  no  sense  a  characteristic  of 
Roger's  make-up,  and  he  was  glad  when  he 
reached  Stewart's  Canyon,  where  the  main  trail 
took  a  direct  road  northwards  to  round  the  Dragon 
and  the  Little  Dragon  and  to  skirt  the  Virgin 
Range  still  further  to  the  northward.  But  as  the 
trail  descended  into  the  valley  and  the  altitude 
became  less,  it  was  seen  that  Paradise  was  left 


194        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

behind.  Instead  of  pines  and  aspens,  the  fero 
cious  and  forbidding  cactus  took  its  place.  The 
yuccas  or  Spanish  bayonets,  the  prickly  pear,  the 
gaunt  Sahaura  and  the  spiny  devil,  together  with 
other  truculent  barbarians  of  the  vegetable  king 
dom  convinced  the  boy  that  he  had  left  behind  all 
the  attractive  part  of  his  trip. 

To  the  west,  Roger  quickened  his  pace  and 
passed  over  the  Shewitz  plateau,  crossing 
stretches  of  lava,  black  and  recent-looking,  as 
though  they  had  been  erupted  but  a  few  years  be 
fore.  Then,  coming  to  the  famous  geological 
break  in  the  rocks  known  as  the  Hurricane  Fault, 
he  turned  sharply  to  the  south  through  the  plain 
uninteresting  territory  of  Eastern  Nevada  and 
California  and  reached  the  Needles  again  with 
little  trouble  to  himself  or  Duke.  By  this  time 
Roger  felt  quite  at  home  in  and  about  the 
Canyon,  and  he  was  conscious  of  boyish  pride 
when  the  proprietor  of  El  Garces,  the  big 
hotel  at  the  Needles,  welcomed  him  as  an  old 
traveler. 

Changing  at  Prescott  Junction,  it  was  not  long 
before  Roger  found  himself  in  Prescott,  a  thriving 
and  flourishing  town  of  the  Southwestern  type. 
There  Roger  found  a  large  packet  of  mail,  letters 


FORGOTTEN  AMERICANS      195 

from  home,  notes  from  former  school  friends  to 
whom  he  had  written  at  divers  times  throughout 
his  trip,  and  which  had  been  sent  to  Washington, 
his  field  address  not  being  known.  But  the  letter 
that  was  first  opened  bore  no  stamp,  being  franked 
with  the  seal  of  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey. 

As  before,  there  was  inclosed  with  the  letter  of 
instructions  a  personal  letter  from  Mitchon, 
to  the  effect  that  favorable  reports  had  been  re 
ceived  and  implying  that  his  next  party  probably 
would  be  the  last  before  his  start  on  the  Alaskan 
trip.  The  last  few  words  made  Roger  almost  leap 
with  delight,  for  it  was  evidence  to  him  that  if  he 
continued  as  well  as  he  had  begun,  he  would  be 
accepted  by  Rivers,  which  throughout  had  been 
the  goal  of  his  ambition. 

The  letter  of  direction,  moreover,  was  fairly 
pleasing,  though  couched  in  the  usual  dry  official 
terms.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  he  should  join 
the  topographical  party  under  the  leadership 
of  Mr.  Gates,  present  post-office  address  being 
Aragon,  County  Presidio,  Texas,  and  that  the 
party  was  engaged  in  mapping  the  Shafter 
quadrangle.  Borrowing  a  large  atlas,  the  boy 
promptly  proceeded  to  look  up  Aragon  and 


196        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Shafter,  and  found,  to  his  delight,  that  it  was  near 
the  boundary  line  of  Mexico. 

After  scampering  through  the  rest  of  his  mail, 
Roger  promptly  went  to  the  little  depot  and  asked 
for  a  ticket  to  Aragon.  Leisurely  the  agent  went 
about  filling  his  request,  then,  looking  at  him  with 
half -shut  eyes,  said,  with  the  easy  familiarity  of 
the  West: 

"  Folks  down  there?  " 

"  No,"  said  Roger  shortly,  "  going  down  on 
government  business. ' ' 

The  agent's  eyes  opened  slightly  with  a  gleam  of 
amusement  in  them. 

"  Ain't  you  pretty  young  for  the  Pecos  country, 
son?  "  he  said. 

"  Why?  "  asked  the  boy,  quickly. 

"  Wa'al,  it's  pretty  wild  down  there  yet.  It's 
nothing  like  what  it  used  to  be  in  the  days  when 
the  Apaches  used  it  as  a  sort  o'  Tom  Tiddler's 
ground  for  picking  up  scalps,  but  I  wouldn't  go  so 
fur  as  to  call  it  an  abode  of  peace,  right  now. ' ' 

"  But  the  Indians  are  all  in  reservations 
now!  "  said  Roger,  surprised  at  the  suggestion 
of  danger. 

"  That's  right,  son,  so  they  are.  But  the 
Greasers  ain't  all  dead  yet,  more's  the  pity." 


FORGOTTEN  AMERICANS      197 

"What's  a  Greaser?  " 

"  Guess  you  don't  know  much  about  that  saloo- 
brious  portion  of  the  world  if  you  ain't  had  the 
pleasure  of  a  Greaser's  company.  Why,  son,  he's 
a  varmint  that's  about  one-fourth  Mexican,  one- 
fourth  Spaniard,  one-fourth  Indian,  and  the  other 
quarter  just  plain  meanness.  He's  as  venomous 
as  a  rattler,  as  sneaking  as  a  coyote,  as  bad-tem 
pered  as  a  bob-cat,  and  just  about  as  pretty  to  look 
at  as  a  Gila  monster." 

Roger  laughed. 

"  You  don't  seem  to  love  them  much,"  he  said, 
"  but  I  guess  that  description's  coming  it  a  little 
strong." 

"  Not  a  blamed  bit!  "  answered  the  agent, 
handing  the  boy  his  ticket,  "an'  you'll  find  out 
that  the  rest  of  the  people  down  there  are  just 
about  as  fond  of  'em  as  me.  I  lived  down  in 
Tombstone  for  some  years,  and  I  wouldn't  take 
the  whole  county  of  Cochise  for  a  gift  unless  I 
could  teetotally  banish  all  those  cusses.  Prescott 
ain't  any  lily-fingered  Eastern  town,  by  a  long 
shot,  but  it's  a  Sunday  school  compared  to  the 
Pecos  country,  you  can  bet  on  that !  ' ; 

"  Well,"  replied  the  boy,  nodding,  "  I'll  try  to 
come  out  of  there  alive,  just  the  same." 


198        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"Hope  you  do,  son,"  was  the  reply,  "  an'  I'll 
give  you  jest  one  piece  of  advice  which  may  help 
that  hope  along  a  lot.  It's  this — don't  let  any 
Greaser  who  has  a  grudge  agin  you  get  within' 
knifin'  distance,  or  your  camp  mates  will  be  pick 
ing  out  a  nice  chaste  headstone  and  sending  your 
last  lovin'  messages  to  your  friends." 

"  All  right,"  replied  the  boy  cheerfully,  "  I'll 
keep  it  in  mind. ' ' 

The  day  following,  Eoger,  having  regretfully 
bidden  good-by  to  Duke,  boarded  the  train  for 
the  Pecos  country,  but  the  trip  was  so  replete  with 
wonder  that  there  was  no  time  for  lamenting  even 
the  absence  of  a  favorite  horse.  Passing  through 
Phoenix,  which  a  few  years  ago  was  nothing  but 
the  desolate  haunt  of  the  dying  consumptive,  and 
which,  through  irrigation,  has  become  one  of  the 
garden  spots  of  the  Southwest,  they  came  to  Casa 
Grande.  Roger  had  never  even  heard  of  the 
place,  but  in  the  observation  car  an  elderly  man, 
who  was  traveling  with  his  son,  began  speaking 
of  the  wonderful  ruins  that  lay  north  of  the  road, 
and  casually  showed  that  he  was  going  to  stop 
off  and  visit  them.  After  a  moment's  hesitation, 
Eoger,  who  had  been  sitting  close  by,  turned  to 
him. 


FORGOTTEN  AMERICANS      199 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,"  he  said,  "  but  I  felt 
sure  you  would  not  mind  my  hearing  what  you 
said  about  the  Casa  Grande  ruins." 

' '  Not  at  all,  my  boy, ' '  was  the  ready  reply, ' '  I 
am  only  glad  if  I  was  able  to  interest  you." 

"  Immensely,"  said  Roger.  He  paused  diffi 
dently,  then  went  on,  "  I  am  on  the  Geological 
Survey,  sir,"  he  said,  "  and  on  my  way  to  join  a 
new  party,  but  have  a  day  or  two  to  spare,  as  the 
Director  has  been  so  kind  as  to  give  me  opportuni 
ties  to  visit  different  fields  of  work  to  gain  ex 
perience  for  a  trip  to  Alaska  next  year.  You  said 
you  were  going  to  visit  Casa  Grande,  and — I  hope 
you  won't  mind  my  saying  this — I  should  like  to 
go  with  you  if  I  might,  and  learn  something  about 
a  place  of  which  I  know  so  little. ' ' 

The  elder  man  held  out  his  hand. 

"  Glad  to  have  you,"  he  said,  heartily,  shalnng 
hands.  Then,  turning,  he  introduced  him  to  his 
son,  Phil,  a  young  fellow  about  Roger's  age,  and 
but  very  few  minutes  elapsed  before  the  train 
stopped. 

"  Of  course  you  know,"  said  Roger's  new 
friend,  when  they  were  in  the  stage  and  bowling 
through  the  plain,  "  that  this  part  of  the  country 
is  just  full  of  evidences  of  a  civilization  far  earlier 


200        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

than  the  Indians  and  earlier  even  than  the  Aztecs 
or  Toltecs." 

"  But,  father,"  said  Phil,  "  I  supposed  the 
Aztecs  were  the  first  people  in  the  country!  ' 

"  So  do  many  people,  Phil,"  was  the  reply, 
11  but  they  were  not.  They  were  a  wandering 
tribe,  as  Indians  might  be,  who  conquered  a  people 
older  than  themselves  called  the  Nahoas,  about 
whom  we  know  very  little.  But  the  Aztecs 
achieved  a  good  deal  of  skill  in  working  in  stone, 
and  the  fact  that  their  monuments  are  not  perish 
able,  makes  their  civilization  enduring  in  fame." 

"  Then  the  Nahoas  were  the  first?  "  queried 
Roger. 

But  his  informant  shook  his  head,  smiling 
slightly. 

"  They  may  have  been,"  he  answered,  "  but  it 
seems  very  doubtful.  I  think  we  have  to  go  back 
a  great  deal  further  when  we  start  to  look  for 
early  Americans." 

"Why?  " 

11  Because  of  the  evident  age  of  the  remains. 
For  example,"  he  continued,  "  I  don't  suppose 
either  of  you  has  been  noticing  this  road  1  ' 

"  I've  been  wondering  at  it  this  last  half  hour," 
said  Roger.  "  It  isn't  like  any  canyon  that  I  ever 


FORGOTTEN  AMERICANS      201 

saw,  and  by  the  way  it  cuts  through  different 
levels  of  strata  it  can't  have  been  made  by  water. 
And  if  it's  made  by  hand,  why  should  they  cut  a 
road,  when  it  could  have  been  made  on  the  level 
above  with  half  the  trouble?  " 

11  You  are  observant,  my  boy,  and  your  eye  has 
been  well  trained,"  was  the  approving  reply. 
"  But  you  don't  seem  to  realize  that  this  may  be 
artificial  and  yet  not  have  been  intended  for  a 
road,  although  it  is  so  used  now." 

"  Oh,  I  know,"  broke  in  Phil,  "  it  must  be  a 
canal." 

"  Hardly  big  enough  for  a  canal,"  said  his 
father, '  *  though  you  are  on  the  right  track.  This 
was  an  irrigating  ditch,  and  if  you  will  notice,  at 
almost  regular  intervals,  smaller  dry  ditches  fork 
from  it.  This  desert  through  here  is  just  honey 
combed  with  works  of  irrigation,  great  aqueducts, 
canals  and  lateral  ditches,  which  at  one  time  must 
have  made  this  barren  waste  a  field  of  blossoms." 

11  It  seems  a  shame,  somehow,"  said  Roger,  "  to 
think  of  all  that  work  being  abandoned. ' ' 

'  *  Abandoned  indeed !  This  place  once  possibly 
was  the  New  York  or  London  of  its  time,  but  ruins 
represent  all  that  is  left  of  the  cities,  and  a  thou 
sand  different  kinds  of  cactus  have  taken  the  place 


202        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

of  the  cornfield  and  the  vineyard.  And,"  he 
added,  pointing  ahead,  "  of  all  the  palaces  of 
those  unknown  emperors,  ruins  like  these  are  all 
that  remain." 

The  boys  thought  it  rather  a  strain  on  the 
imagination  to  picture  palaces  in  the  dry  square 
adobe  walls,  but  as  they  walked  up  close  to  them, 
some  lurking  hint  of  former  greatness  became 
felt.  The  Casa  Grande  must  have  stood  some 
four  or  five  stories  in  height  and  the  rooms  were 
rarely  less  than  twenty  feet  square,  so  that  the 
idea  was  given  not  only  of  size  but  also  of  extreme 
age,  this  being  due  in  part,  of  course,  to  the  soft 
ness  of  the  material  of  which  they  were  built. 

Only  a  hint  of  greatness,  but  when,  standing 
beside  the  ruins,  the  boys  looked  over  the  country 
below  them,  the  real  magnitude  of  the  work  be 
came  apparent.  Following  the  pointing  fore 
finger  of  the  elder  man,  Eoger  could  see  what 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  would  have  over 
looked,  the  regular  relations  of  green  defiles, 
which,  though  veiled  by  the  hand  of  time,  were 
evidently  artificial  work.  One  great  canal  could 
be  traced  tapping  the  Salt  River  on  the  south  side, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Verde ;  this,  for  three  miles 
and  a  half,  formerly  flowed  through  a  bed  cut 


FORGOTTEN  AMERICANS      203 

by  hand  out  of  the  naked  rock  in  the  Superstition 
Mountains  to  a  depth  of  a  hundred  feet.  This 
canal  alone,  with  its  four  branches  and  the  dis 
tributing  ditches,  irrigated  1,600  square  miles  of 
country,  and  the  engineering  would  be  no  disgrace 
to  modern  times. 

"  And  how  long  ago  were  these  canals  dug?  ' 
asked  Roger. 

"  No  one  knows,"  was  the  truthful  and  un 
hesitating  reply.  "It  is  a  puzzle  that  so  far 
archaeologists  have  tried  in  vain  to  solve.  They 
must  be  older  than  the  Aztlan  civilizations " 

"  What  are  those?  "  asked  Phil. 

"  Aztecs,  Toltecs,  and  that  bunch,  aren't  they?  ' 
queried  Eoger,  wanting  to  show  his  knowledge. 

"  Mayas,  too,"  said  the  other,  smiling  assent, 
*  *  and  they  must  be  older  than  the  Nahoa  empire, 
of  which  little  is  left  except  in  the  south  of  Peru. 
Just  how  old  is  impossible  to  say,  and  the  only  clew 
we  have  is  that  these  canals  and  ditches  are  in 
part  filled  up  with  volcanic  lava  and  debris  from 
the  Bradshaw  mountains,  and  geologists  are  able 
to  show  that  these  eruptions  cannot  have  taken 
place  less  than  two  thousand  years  ago." 

"  That's  as  old  as  Eome!  "  said  Eoger  in  sur 
prise. 


204        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  That  means  that  the  end  of  it,  at  latest  guess, 
was  older  than  the  beginning  of  Rome,  practically. 
And,  though  this  volcanic  action  has  been  later 
than  these  immense  works  of  early  man  in 
America,  there  is  left  neither  a  tradition  of  the 
millions  of  people  who  lived  then,  nor  even  of  the 
forces  which  led  to  the  decay  of  the  empire  and 
the  overwhelming  volcanic  disaster  in  which  it 
may  have  closed." 

On  their  way  back  to  the  train,  the  old  traveler 
gave  Eoger  a  long  account  of  the  early  settlement 
of  that  part  of  the  country  by  the  Spaniards,  and 
pointed  out,  as  they  passed  through  Tucson  a  few 
hours  later,  the  quaint  mediaeval  architecture  of  a 
town  which  claims  its  beginning  as  far  back  as 
1560,  and  in  which  many  houses  three  centuries 
old  are  still  standing;  the  oldest  town  in  the  South 
west,  with  the  exception  of  Santa  Fe. 

A  mirage,  or  rather  a  succession  of  them, 
formed  the  basis  for  some  thrilling  African  desert 
tales,  with  which  Phil's  father  was  well-primed, 
and  when,  passing  round  the  mile-long  horseshoe 
curve,  the  train  pulled  into  El  Paso,  Roger  was 
extremely  sorry  to  leave  the  friends  who  had  made 
his  trip  such  a  pleasant  one. 

A  few  hours  sufficed  for  the  boy  to  purchase 


FORGOTTEN  AMERICANS      205 

some  trifles  needed  to  make  up  his  equipment,  and 
bright  and  early  the  following  morning  he  started 
for  Aragon,  where  he  would  find  out  the  location 
of  the  party  he  was  to  join.  It  was  quite  dull 
after  the  jollity  and  interest  of  the  trip  to  El 
Paso,  and  Roger  began  to  wish  that  he  had  ar 
rived,  and  was  pining  to  get  into  action  again. 
But  the  incident  for  which  he  was  anxious  did  not 
fail  him.  As  the  train  pulled  up  at  Chispa,  a  sta 
tion  about  fifty  miles  west  of  Aragon,  it  was  seen 
that  almost  the  whole  population  of  the  village 
was  at  the  depot,  a  crowd  numbering  perhaps 
twenty  people,  and  foremost  among  them  a  man 
carrying  a  little  girl,  about  eight  years  old,  in  his 
arms. 

In  answer  to  questions  put  to  him  in  Spanish, 
for  he  could  speak  no  English,  the  father  explained 
his  trouble  by  pointing  to  six  little  marks  on  the 
girl's  leg,  three  groups  of  two,  all  near  each  other. 
No  sooner  was  it  seen  what  the  trouble  was  than 
a  big  six-footer  shouldered  his  way  through  the 
car. 

"  When?  "  he  asked. 

In  a  torrent  of  Spanish  and  gesticulation,  the 
man  explained  that  the  child  had  been  struck  by 
a  rattlesnake  three  times,  fortunately,  a  small  one, 


206        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

just  half  an  hour  before  the  train  came  in,  and  that 
he  was  going  to  take  her  to  the  nearest  doctor, 
who  was  in  Marfa,  a  town  some  few  stations  down 
the  line. 

"  Well,"  said  the  big  man,  "  I  can  fix  her,  I 
guess.  That  is,  I've  got  the  regular  serum  here, 
but  I  haven't  a  syringe.  Any  gentleman  got  a 
hypodermic  needle?  ' 

But  none  of  the  passengers  would  confess  to 
the  use  of  a  needle,  because  of  its  implication  that 
its  owner  would  be  a  "  dope  fiend, ' '  and  the  quer 
ist  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Are  you  a  doctor?  "  asked  one  of  the  men 
in  the  car. 

"I'm  not  a  little  girl  doctor,  I'm  a  cattle  doc 
tor,"  answered  the  big  man  with  a  laugh,  "  or  at 
least  I'm  a  government  inspector,  and  I  haven't 
anything  smaller  than  this!  '  He  pulled  out  of 
his  case  a  hypodermic  syringe  used  for  injecting 
fluid  into  cattle. 

But  the  father  sent  up  a  cry  of  protest  at  the 
sight  of  the  instrument,  and  would  not  allow  it  to 
be  used.  The  matter  was  explained  to  him  in 
Spanish,  in  English,  and  in  half  a  dozen  different 
dialects  of  each,  but  he  only  shook  his  head. 

11  Has   anybody  got  a   sharp  knife?     I  mean 


FORGOTTEN  AMERICANS      207 

really  sharp,"  next  asked  the  inspector,  who  had 
assumed  control  of  the  situation  and  was  in  no 
wise  disconcerted  by  the  opposition  of  the  girl's 
father.  There  was  a  moment's  pause  and  then 
Roger  stepped  forward. 

11  I  was  taught  on  the  Survey,"  he  emphasized 
the  words  to  give  them  weight  with  the  govern 
ment  official,  "  to  keep  a  blade  sharp,  and  I  guess 
this  is  about  as  good  steel  as  you  can  get." 

The  inspector  took  it,  opened  it,  and  ran  his 
thumb  along  the  blade. 

"  It's  a  good  knife,  son,"  he  said,  "  but  it's  no 
surgical  instrument.  Some  one  lend  me  a  razor, 
I  use  a  safety  myself." 

Of  the  stock  of  razors  that  were  handed  to 
him,  the  big  man  took  one,  sterilized  it  in  some 
boiling  water  from  the  dining  car,  and  prepared  to 
make  an  incision  in  the  girl's  leg  just  above  the 
fang  marks. 

But  no  sooner  had  the  blade  touched  the  skin 
and  drawn  a  little  blood,  than  with  a  yell  the 
father  leaped  straight  at  the  inspector,  flashing 
a  knife  as  he  did  so.  Not  expecting  an  attack, 
the  government  man  would  have  been  taken  un 
awares,  but  that  is  a  land  of  quick  action,  and  be 
fore  the  Mexican  could  bring  his  arm  down,  he 


2o8        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

found  his  wrist  seized,  and  a  revolver  barrel  an 
inch  from  his  nose  stopped  his  onward  rush. 

"  That's  a  Greaser's  gratitood,  every  time," 
said  the  holder  of  the  gun.  "  Go  ahead  with  your 
job,  pard,  and  if  this  ornery  cayuse  so  much  as 
squirms,  I'll  give  you  an  elegant  opportoonity  to 
perform  a  little  operation  for  bullet  extraction." 

The  inspector,  who,  seeing  that  the  danger  was 
averted,  had  gone  back  to  his  task,  merely  nodded. 
He  made  several  wide  and  deep  incisions,  think 
ing  that  scars  were  better  than  death,  and  then, 
despite  the  crying  of  the  girl  and  the  fluent  curses 
of  the  father,  rubbed  soda  in  the  wounds  with  a 
vigorous  hand. 

"  There!  "  he  said,  as  he  completed  the  task. 
*  *  I  think  she  '11  do  all  right  now !  ' ' 

"  But  is  that  a  sure  preventive?  "  asked  the 
boy. 

'  *  No,  son, ' '  was  the  reply.  "  To  be  honest  with 
you,  nothing's  sure  against  a  rattler,  because,  you 
see,  some  folks '  constitutions  are  worked  on  more 
easily  than  others,  but  in  a  certain  number  of 
cases  the  soda  fixes  it.  That  is,  if  you're  not 
afraid  to  cut  deep  enough." 

"  Then,"  Roger  said,  "  it  just  means  that 
you've  probably  saved  the  girl's  life?  " 


FORGOTTEN  AMERICANS      209 

"  Well,"  replied  the  other,  "  that's  putting  it 
a  little  strongly.  And,  anyhow,  if  you're  on  the 
Survey,  you  know  mighty  well  that  when  govern 
ment  men  do  that  sort  of  thing  they  don't  talk 
about  it." 


CHAPTER  XI 

WHERE  PRIMITIVE   JUSTICE  REIGNS 

ROGER  had  thought  he  had  seen  a  few  varieties 
of  cacti  in  the  Amargosa  Desert,  but  as  he  stepped 
off  the  train  at  Aragon,  he  realized  that  all  his 
previous  ideas  had  fallen  far  short.  To  the  eye 
unfamiliar  with  cacti,  their  cumbrous  ungainli- 
ness  looked  unnatural  and  forced,  and  standing 
by  the  little  shanty  which  was  dignified  with  the 
name  of  station,  the  boy  looked  over  a  dusty 
plain  wherein  fantastic  and  thorny  shapes  ran 
riot.  If  the  Grand  Canyon  was  a  bizarre  dream 
of  rocks,  then  the  cacti  of  the  Arizona  plains 
looked  to  Roger  the  nightmare  of  the  vegetable 
world. 

But  the  boy,  arrived  at  the  point  where  he  must 
strike  off  for  the  party,  realized  that  the  time 
for  delay  was  over,  and  turning  to  the  station 
agent,  who  had  been  eyeing  him  curiously,  he 
asked  for  information  about  the  government  sur 
veyors.  There  was  no  difficulty  in  finding  out 
roughly  the  direction  in  which  the  party  had 

2IO 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  211 

traveled,  but  the  description  of  the  route  over 
the  apparently  interminable  cactus  plains  some 
what  perturbed  Roger,  accustomed  though  he 
now  felt  himself  to  be  to  find  his  way  over  the 
faintest  trails.  But  he  was  a  boy,  just  the  same, 
and  the  cacti  looked  forbidding  and  menacing, 
and  the  lad  wished  profoundly  that  the  old  fron 
tiersman,  who  had  been  his  companion  on  the 
first  ride  to  Death  Valley,  were  with  him  now. 
But  there  was  no  help  for  it,  he  had  to  join  his 
party  no  matter  what  the  trail  was  like  or  whither 
it  led. 

His  next  question,  implying  the  desire  to  buy 
a  good  mule  and  the  ability  to  pay  for  it,  aroused 
considerably  more  interest,  and  the  station  agent 
so  bestirred  himself  in  the  matter  that  Roger  felt 
sure  he  had  a  commission  in  view.  It  was  but  a 
short  time  before  three  mules  were  brought  for 
his  inspection,  all  sound  beasts  so  far  as  the  boy 
could  judge,  and  he  counted  himself  fortunate  to 
strike  an  agreement  with  the  owner  of  the  mule, 
whereby,  for  a  little  extra  payment,  one  of  the 
herders  should  accompany  him  on  the  trail  to 
the  Survey  camp. 

The  ride  was  long  and  dry,  and  the  boy  was 
amazed  to  learn  from  his  companion  that  a  few 


212        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

years  before  these  arid  plains  had  been  a  grazing 
country. 

11  Where  has  all  the  grass  gone?  "  he  queried. 

"  Senor,"  replied  the  Mexican,  "  it  was  thisa 
way.  Alia  the  grass  has  been  eaten.  There 
wasa  too  moocha  the  cattle  on  the  land,  they  eata 
the  grass  moocha  too  short,  and  the  grass  cannot 
maka  the  seed." 

"  But,"  objected  Roger,  "  aren't  the  roots  still 
there?  " 

The  herder  shook  his  head. 

11  No,  Senor,"  he  answered,  with  a  sweeping 
gesture;  "  if  the  grass  get  moocha  short,  the  rain 
not  soaka  in  but  runa  right  away,  the  ground  all 
same  as  dust,  and  wind  blowa  the  earth  away 
from  the  roots  and  alia  dry  up." 

"  I  see,"  said  Roger  thoughtfully.  "  Then 
putting  too  much  cattle  on  land  is  like  cutting  the 
forests  on  the  mountains  too  heavily.  Deforest 
the  mountains  and  the  water  floods  the  streams 
and  is  wasted,  crop  the  plains  and  they  become  a 
desert.  I  see." 

The  distance  to  the  Survey  camp  was  not 
great,  being  but  little  over  twenty  miles,  but  the 
country  was  not  conducive  to  rapid  traveling, 
and  as  the  boy  allowed  his  companion  to  set  the 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  213 

pace  it  was  almost  evening  when  they  arrived. 
The  party  had  just  come  in  from  the  day's  work, 
and  Roger  immediately  presented  his  letter  to 
Mr.  Barrs,  by  whom  he  was  warmly  welcomed. 

Roger's  new  chief  was  a  quiet  man,  as  indeed 
most  of  his  leaders  had  been,  but  Mr.  Barrs 
bubbled  over  continually  with  a  certain  sedate 
humor.  He  promptly  put  the  lad  through  a  cate 
chism  with  reference  to  his  work  and  experience 
since  he  joined  the  Survey,  and  little  by  little, 
drew  out  from  Roger  almost  the  entire  story  of 
his  adventures  up  to  and  including  the  incident 
of  the  rattlesnake-bitten  girl  on  the  train  the  pre 
vious  day. 

* '  That,  my  son, ' '  said  Barrs,  "  is  a  fitting  pre 
lude  to  your  stay  here.  This  is  the  first  and  only 
original  headquarters  of  the  snake,  spider,  and 
insect  tribe,  and  anything  with  the  usual  number 
of  legs  is  out  of  place." 

"  And  are  they  all  poisonous,  Mr.  Barrs  I  " 
asked  the  boy. 

' '  Not  especially, ' '  was  the  cheerful  reply.  ' '  At 
least  I've  managed  to  keep  alive  a  whole  lot.  No, 
half  these  stories  you  hear  about  venomous  rep 
tiles  are  imaginary  and  superstitious." 

' '  But  if  you  geta  the  trantler  bite, ' '  put  in  the 


214        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Mexican  herder,  who  had  been  listening,  "  you 
willa  the  dance  until  you  drop  down  dead." 

"  Nonsense,  Jose,"  answered  the  chief  of  the 
party,  "  that's  just  an  old  story.  The  tarantula's 
bite  may  be  bad,  as  far  as  that  goes,  but  I've 
never  heard  of  any  one  having  been  bitten.  Have 
you?  " 

"  No,  Seiior,  not  myself  have  I  seen  it.  But 
I  have  hearda  of  moocha  the  plenty,  and  they  all 
die  in  the  dance.  There  was  Juarez  Alvinero 
on  the  f esta  Sant '  Antonio  two  years  ago,  Senor ; 
he  dance  and  dance  in  the  Plaza  until  he  droppa 
down  dead,  and  when  they  runa  to  picka  him  up, 
a  trantler  let  go  his  hand  and  run  away,  and  there 
was  two  moocha  large  bites.  Si,  Senor." 

"  Probably  frightened  himself  to  death.  Lots 
of  these  low  vitality  races  do  that." 

"  Yet  you  have  seen  plenty  of  tarantulas,  Mr. 
Barrs?  "  queried  Roger,  "  although  you  know  of 
no  one  suffering  from  their  bites." 

"  Yes,  lots  of  them.  Why,  the  boys  often  use 
them  for  entertainment,  sort  of  a  prize-fight  busi 
ness.  It  is  a  good  betting  proposition,  for  they 
are  inveterate  fighters." 

"  You  mean,  fight  each  other?  " 

"  Yes,  of  course.    If  you  get  hold  of  two  taran- 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  215 

tulas  and  put  them  down  on  a  large  sheet  of 
paper,  they  will  try  to  run  away  until  they  catch 
sight  of  each  other,  and  then  you  couldn't  make 
them  run.  Neither  will  attempt  to  escape,  but 
they  will  crawl  close  till  just  about  six  inches 
from  each  other,  and  will  then  circle  slowly,  look 
ing  for  an  opening. ' ' 

11  Sort  of  sparring  for  wind,"  commented  the 
boy. 

"  That's  it.  Then,  suddenly,  one  or  the  other 
will  spring,  and  either  will  sink  his  mandibles  in 
the  body  of  the  other,  or  will  meet  with  a  like 
fate  himself.  Whichever  gets  the  hold,  it  is  fatal, 
but  I  couldn't  tell  you  whether  it  is  due  to  poison, 
or  just  to  the  strength  of  the  bite." 

11  It's  just  like  a  regular  duel,"  exclaimed 
Roger  in  surprise.  "  I  never  heard  of  anything 
like  that." 

11  And  what's  more,"  continued  the  chief,  "  I 
have  heard  of  a  man  who  had  a  pet  tarantula, 
with  which  he  used  to  visit  places  and  organize 
fights,  just  as  people  do  at  a  cocking  main,  but  I 
can't  say  that  I  ever  saw  it  done.  It  may  be  true, 
just  as  the  dancing  story  may  be  true,  but  if  it 
were  I  should  have  heard  of  some  cases  of  it." 

11  But  how  did  the  creatures  get  the  reputa- 


216        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

tion?  "  asked  Eoger.  "  Surely  there  must  have 
been  some  cause  for  it." 

' '  There  is,  I  believe, ' '  answered  the  chief.  * '  So 
far  as  I  can  learn  a  convulsive  twitching  follows 
a  tarantula  bite,  and  as  the  best  thing  to  do  in  all 
poison  cases  is  to  walk  the  sufferer  up  and  down 
until  he  is  ready  to  drop,  the  twitching  at  such  a 
time  might  resemble  St.  Vitus's  dance.  This  was 
exaggerated,  as  most  travelers'  tales  were  in  the 
early  days,  but  I  don't  think  at  worst,  that  it  is 
much  more  dangerous  than  the  sting  of  a  black 
hornet?  " 

"  Then  you  have  scorpions  down  here  too, 
haven't  you?  Are  they  as  bad  as  they  are  sup 
posed  to  be?  ' 

1  i  The  main  trouble  with  a  scorpion  is  his  vicious 
make-up, ' '  was  the  reply.  "  He 's  about  the  wicked 
est-looking  proposition  that  ever  came  down  the 
pike,  but  his  bite  is  not  fatal.  One  of  the  fellows 
with  me  one  year  had  a  little  experience  with  a 
scorpion  that  made  me  think  they  are  not  as  bad 
as  they  look. 

'  *  You  know  the  way  they  love  to  creep  into  the 
folds  of  cloth?  Well,  my  assistant  had  just  taken 
up  his  flannel  shirt  from  the  ground  where  he 
had  been  drying  it  in  the  sun,  and  after  shaking 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  217 

it  well  and  examining  it  thoroughly  to  see  that 
nothing  had  crept  into  it,  he  laid  it  on  the  table 
a  minute  before  putting  it  on.  Then  he  slipped 
it  over  his  shoulders  and  suddenly  gave  a  yell, 
ripping  the  shirt  off  as  he  did  so,  and  there  across 
his  chest  ran  a  full-grown  scorpion,  which,  as  it 
passed  above  the  region  of  the  heart  brought  his 
devilish  sting  over  his  head  and  struck  three 
times. 

"  Of  course,  I  felt  sure  that  the  poor  fellow 
was  gone,  because  I  knew  nothing  of  scorpions 
then,  except  by  reputation,  and  the  place  of  the 
stings  was  so  near  the  heart  that  I  didn't  care  to 
try  to  cut  them  out  or  cauterize  or  anything  of 
that  sort.  Well,  the  three  places  puffed  up  the 
size  of  pigeon  eggs,  and  for  a  few  hours  the 
pain  was  very  considerable,  but  they  went  down 
by  night,  and  there  were  no  after-effects. ' ' 

"  Why,  Mr.  Barrs,"  said  Roger,  "  you  are 
making  out  all  these  dangerous  and  venomous 
creatures  to  be  comparatively  harmless.  I 
thought  you  said  there  were  such  a  lot  of  them 
down  here." 

"  Well,"  replied  the  older  man,  "  there  are 
enough.  Leaving  tlie  snakes  out  of  the  question, 
there  are  several  varieties  of  ants  that  it  is  wise 


2i8        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

to  give  a  wide  berth,  and  the  centipede  is  a  crea 
ture  to  leave  strictly  alone." 

"  Is  their  bite  fatal?  "  asked  the  boy. 

11  They  don't  bite." 

"  Their  sting,  then." 

11  They  haven't  any  sting,"  responded  Barrs, 
smiling  at  the  boy's  bewilderment. 

"  Then  what  have  they  got!  " 

"  They've  got  feet!  " 

' l  I  know  that, ' '  said  the  boy,  a  little  scornfully. 
11  That's  what  the  name  centipede  means,  isn't  it, 
a  hundred  feet?  ' 

11  Yes,  and  some  of  them  can  beat  out  their 
name." 

"  But  they  can't  sting  with  their  feet." 

"  They  do,  just  the  same,"  replied  the  older 
man.  "  You  see  the  feet  of  a  centipede  are  like 
the  paws  of  a  cat,  all  furnished  with  claws,  which 
are  drawn  in  while  the  creature  is  walking  about, 
but  which  can  be  extended  and  fixed  firmly  if 
disturbed.  For  example,  if  a  centipede  is  walk 
ing  over  your  hand  and  you  go  to  brush  him  off, 
no  matter  how  fast  you  strike,  the  moment  your 
other  hand  has  touched  the  little  hairs  all  over 
his  body  that  very  instant  all  those  little  claws  in 
each  of  his  hundred  feet  sink  deep  into  your  skin, 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  219 

and  Mr.  Centipede  can't  be  pried  off  with  any 
thing  short  of  a  crowbar. 

"  As  a  matter  of  fact,  if  you  try  to  tear  him 
off,  the  chances  are  that  you  will  pull  until  you 
break  the  claws  off,  leaving  them  in  the  skin— 
for  he  will  never  let  go — and  then  you  will  have 
an  awful  time.  I  don't  know  for  sure  if  there 
are  little  poison  sacs  at  the  base  of  the  claws 
or  whether  it  is  just  blood  poisoning  that  sets 
in,  due  to  the  fact  that  the  centipede  lives  on 
decaying  flesh,  and  his  claws  are  covered  with 
germs,  but  I  do  know  that  if  the  claws  are  broken 
in,  it  means  trouble.  If  you  leave  the  thing  alone, 
however,  and  can  keep  from  trying  to  annoy  him, 
if  there  is  no  need  for  him  to  stick  his  claws  into 
you,  it  is  no  worse  than  having  a  caterpillar  crawl 
over  your  hand." 

"  But  is  it  fatal  if  he  gets  his  claws  in?  "  asked 
the  boy. 

"  I  wouldn't  say  that  it  was.  It  often  means 
the  amputation  of  a  limb  though,  and  I  suppose 
if  it  was  on  the  body  it  might  end  in  a  case  of 
blood  poisoning  that  might  prove  fatal.  But  at 
best  it  makes  a  deep  sloughing  sore,  which  gets 
bigger  and  bigger  all  the  time,  the  skin  seeming 
to  die  about  the  edges.  Of  course,  injury  from 


220        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

a  centipede  is  comparatively  rare,  as  he  is  gen 
erally  found  about  carrion,  and  in  this  kind  of 
climate  no  one  keeps  carrion  any  nearer  to  the 
camp  than  he  has  to." 

"  Then  there's  the  Gila  monster,"  suggested 
the  boy,  "  they  were  telling  stories  about  them  on 
the  train  coming  down." 

"  He  looks  ugly,  and  I  have  been  told  some 
very  bad  things  about  him,"  said  the  chief 
gravely,  "  but  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  have 
seen  no  warrant  for  them.  I  can  hardly  see  how 
so  lazy  and  sluggish  a  creature  as  a  Gila  mon 
ster  can  be  called  dangerous.  I  have  tried  to 
provoke  them  by  shoving  sticks  down  their  throats 
in  order  to  find  out  how  they  behaved  when  angry, 
but  I  have  never  been  able  to  make  them  show 
fight." 

"  Only  just  the  some  times,"  put  in  the  Mexi 
can,  who  had  followed  the  conversation  with  in 
tense  interest,  "  there  is  justa  the  five,  six  days 
in  eacha  year,  the  Gila  is  moocha  bad,  other  times, 
nothing  at  all." 

"  That's  possible,"  said  Barrs,  "  but  I  guess 
I  never  struck  those  days.  But  I  mustn't  keep 
blatherskiting  here  all  night,  come  along  to  the 
rest  of  the  fellows.  You  want  to  get  acquainted, 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  221 

I  reckon,  and  you'll  find  them  a  mighty  lively  set 
of  boys." 

Most  of  the  men  had  put  in  their  time  in  the 
Southwest,  and  Roger  heard  more  stories  of  the 
old  days  before  wire  fences  were  instituted  and 
when  the  whole  prairie  was  open  to  their  herds 
than  he  had  ever  dreamed  could  be  found  out  of 
books.  It  seemed  good  to  the  boy  to  be  back  in  the 
harness  again,  after  the  lapse  of  a  couple  of 
months  since  he  saw  Masseth  and  the  party  ride 
away  along  the  edge  of  the  Canyon,  and  he  was 
glad  to  find  that  he  could  take  his  place  as  a  man 
and  do  a  man's  work,  even  in  a  new  environment. 

The  agent's  warning  about  the  dangers  of  the 
Pecos  country  and  the  stories  told  in  the  even 
ing  of  times  past,  however,  never  seemed  real  to 
Roger,  any  more  real  than  the  tales  of  history, 
until  suddenly  they  were  made  grimly  lifelike. 
One  evening,  sitting  in  Barrs'  tent,  talking  with 
him,  Roger  suddenly  heard  a  sharp  report  and  a 
bullet  came  tearing  through  the  cloth  of  the  tent 
not  eighteen  inches  above  his  head.  Almost 
simultaneously,  it  seemed  to  the  boy,  Barrs  had 
thrown  down  the  lamp  and  put  it  out,  grasped 
his  revolver  and  leaped  from  the  tent.  The  other 
man  who  had  been  sitting  near  by  was  lying 


222        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

prone,  working  his  way  along  the  ground  to  the 
other  tent. 

Boger  had  not  seen  him  drop  to  cover,  the  whole 
had  happened  so  quickly,  but  as  soon  as  he  re 
alized,  he  lost  no  time  in  following  suit.  As  he 
did  so,  and  his  ear  came  close  to  the  ground,  the 
boy  could  hear  the  sound  of  hoofs  galloping  at 
topmost  speed  and  receding  into  the  distance. 
Suddenly,  from  far  off,  came  the  sound  of  voices, 
like  to  a  challenge  and  response,  and  then  a  fusil 
lade  of  shots  broken  by  a  shriek. 

"  Jones!  "  called  Barrs. 

The  man  called  stepped  forward  promptly. 

"  Follow  the  trail  in  the  direction  that  man 
went,  and  see  if  you  can  find  out  who  fired  those 
shots  we  heard.  I'll  overtake  you  in  a  moment. 
Wilkins,  take  Doughty  with  you  and  follow  the 
trail  to  the  north,  to  see  if  you  can  find  out  from 
any  one  who  passed  there  a  few  minutes  before. 
The  rest  can  look  after  the  camp." 

Within  three  minutes  all  were  scattered,  and 
Roger  found  himself  riding  beside  Wilkins  with 
his  gun  ready  in  the  event  of  further  trouble. 
They  had  not  far  to  ride.  The  very  first  house 
they  came  to  was  lighted  up  for  a  festivity,  and 
there  were  sounds  of  merry-making  within. 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  223 

"  Doughty,"  said  Wilkins,  "  I'm  going  in  here. 
You  take  the  horses  and  turn  them  so  that  my 
beast  is  close  to  the  door,  with  his  nigh  side 
handy.  I  may  need  to  mount  in  a  hurry.  If  I 
do,  you  wheel  sharp  as  I  touch  stirrup  and  I'll 
cover  the  retreat. ' ' 

He  leaped  from  his  horse,  and  seeing  that  his 
gun  was  handy,  Wilkins  gave  a  cheery  shout  and 
walked  in.  Roger  waited  excitedly,  his  heart 
beating  like  a  trip-hammer.  But  there  was  no 
trouble,  and  a  few  moments  later  Wilkins  came 
out,  chatting  with  the  host. 

"  It  was  Crooked  Antonio  who  left  here,"  he 
said  to  Doughty,  as  they  cantered  back  on  the 
homeward  trail,  "  it  appears  he  had  been  near- 
ing  trouble  there  and  got  a  hint  that  his  room 
was  a  whole  lot  more  desirable  than  his  com 
pany.  We  had  trouble  with  him  before.  I'm 
sorry  for  Antonio,  for  he's  gone  so  far  now 
that  Barrs  will  see  he  gets  all  that's  coming  to 
him." 

Taking  the  road  quietly,  Wilkins  and  the  boy 
reached  camp  just  at  the  same  time  as  Barrs  and 
his  assistant,  save  that  the  assistant  was  walking 
beside  his  horse,  holding  on  the  saddle  a  stranger 
who  evidently  had  been  wounded. 


224        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  They  seem  to  think  at  Volaccio's  that  it  must 
have  been  Crooked  Antonio,"  said  Wilkins  as 
soon  as  he  caught  sight  of  the  chief. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Barrs,  "  that's  who  it  was. 
Well,  he's  put  this  fellow  into  pretty  bad  shape, 
and  it's  lucky  he  didn't  pot  some  of  us." 

"  But  what  was  it  all  about?  "  asked  Roger  of 
his  companion. 

"  I  don't  know,  son,"  was  the  ready  reply. 
"  Guess  he  was  feeling  a  little  good,  any  way, 
and  then  he  thinks  he  has  a  grudge  against  the 
Survey  over  some  cattle  mix-up  with  a  party  that 
was  here  a  couple  of  years  ago." 

"  And  what  did  this  fellow  have  to  do  with  it, 
Mr.  Barrs,"  the  boy  continued,  seeing  that  the 
chief  was  listening  to  Wilkins. 

"  Nothing  at  all,  Doughty,  so  far  as  I  can  find 
out,  except  that  he  would  make  an  awkward  wit 
ness.  You  see,  when  Antonio  shot  at  us,  he  prob 
ably  thought  that  he  had  potted  some  one  sure. 
Then,  as  he  galloped  away,  this  chap  happened  to 
be  beside  the  trail  and  hearing  the  shot  reined 
up,  and  seeing  who  was  coming,  said  to  him, 
'  What's  up,  Antonio!  '  Then  the  hunchback, 
seeing  that  he  was  recognized,  gave  his  broncho 
a  cut  with  the  whip  and  fired.  This  fellow  re- 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  225 

plied,  but  in  the  end  Antonio  got  him  in  the  knee, 
making  a  mighty  painful  wound." 

"  But  will  they  catch  him?  " 

"  They  will,  unless  he  takes  to  the  mountains 
and  becomes  outlawed.  There  are  lots  of  those 
fellows  around  the  border." 

"  But  don't  they  get  after  them?  " 

"  Not  often.  They  don't  do  much,  you  know, 
and  then  if  they  get  in  trouble  on  the  American 
side  they  skip  across  the  line  and  vice  versa,  so 
that,  as  it  would  be  pretty  difficult  to  get  both 
countries  to  take  action  at  the  same  time,  they 
are  kept  down  by  the  simple  method  of  shooting 
any  of  them  at  sight.  You  see,  every  one  is  known 
about  here,  and  one  of  those  chaps  has  no  chance 
of  getting  away  unobserved." 

The  wounded  man  having  been  sent  to  the  near 
est  town,  and  the  incident  being  closed,  Roger 
settled  down  quietly  to  the  routine  work  of  the 
camp.  He  found  Barrs  very  willing  to  help  him, 
and  as  the  country  they  were  surveying  presented 
no  great  difficulties  for  the  rodman,  the  boy  was 
not  too  tired  to  take  up  with  interest  the  theoret 
ical  and  mathematical  side  of  the  work,  and  in  a 
few  weeks  his  help  was  a  factor. 

The  daily  round  of  the  camp  life  was  compar- 


226        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

atively  simple,  but  it  made  a  long  day.  The  men 
were  called  at  half-past  five  and  usually  work  was 
begun  by  seven  o'clock.  Sometimes  the  party 
took  lunch  along,  sometimes  the  men  returned  to 
the  camp,  but  little  time  was  wasted  until  the 
evening,  when  a  number  of  miles  had  been 
traversed  and  a  host  of  calculations  made  and 
recorded  on  the  plane-table  by  the  topographer. 

It  was  near  the  close  of  the  boy's  stay  with  the 
party  when  the  camp  was  startled  during  the  noon 
spell  by  a  stranger,  who  rode  in  excitedly,  crying : 

"  Is  there  a  justice  of  the  peace  here?  " 

All  the  men  looked  at  Barrs,  who  replied 
quietly : 

"  I  am  in  charge  of  this  government  party, 
not  a  justice  of  the  peace.  What  is  the  trouble  ?  ' ' 

1 1  There  was  a  gang  came  down  from  the  moun 
tains  and  shot  up  a  ranch  about  three  miles 
north.  But  the  boys  fought  'em  off,  and  though 
one  of  the  ranch  hands  is  dead  and  another  dying, 
they  caught  one  of  the  gang.  They'll  probably 
shoot  him  anyhow,  but  the  old  boss  of  the  ranch 
wants  it  done  legally.  It  don't  matter  much  if 
you  ain't  a  justice  of  the  peace,  it's  just  as  good." 

Barrs  thought  for  a  moment. 

"  You  haven't  any  right  to  shoot  that  man  with- 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  227 

out  a  trial,"  he  said.  "  Of  course  if  he  was 
downed  during  the  fight,  that's  all  right  and 
couldn't  be  helped.  But  now  that  it's  all  over, 
why  you  can't  just  go  to  work  and  shoot  him.  I'm 
no  justice  of  the  peace.  You'll  have  to  send  him 
to  El  Paso,  or  somewhere." 

11  And  who's  goin'  to  tote  him  eighty  miles  to 
a  railroad?  I'd  like  to  know.  Not  on  your  life. 
Either  you  come  and  give  him  a  fair  trial,  or 
he'll  take  a  short  cut  to  the  next  world." 

The  chief  of  the  party  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  if  you  put  it  that  way,  I 
suppose  I'll  have  to  go,  that  is,  if  it's  to  prevent 
murder  being  done." 

So  picking  out  three  members  of  the  party  to 
accompany  him,  of  whom  Eoger  was  one,  Barrs 
rode  over  to  the  ranch.  They  found  the  man  who 
had  been  caught  tied  to  a  fence-post  in  the  blaz 
ing  sun,  while  every  one  else  was  in  the  house. 
Barrs  had  the  man  brought  in,  and  after  the  story 
had  been  told  over  three  or  four  times,  each  in 
a  different  way,  it  was  seen  that  a  possible  de 
fense  could  have  been  put  up.  The  man  admitted 
that  he  was  aware  that  the  gang  came  to  shoot 
up  the  ranch,  but  no  one  could  swear  that  he  had 
seen  the  captured  man  fire  until  shots  had  been 


228        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

exchanged,  by  which  time,  any  gun-play  could 
have  been  called  in  self-defense.  The  captive 
admitted,  however,  that  he  had  shot  the  man 
who  was  fatally  wounded,  but  denied  the  slaying 
of  the  rancher  who  lay  dead. 

A  long  and  somewhat  heated  discussion  fol 
lowed,  Barrs  standing  out  against  the  applica 
tion  of  lynch  law,  mainly  because  he  felt  as  a 
representative  of  the  government  he  could  take 
no  other  attitude,  but  he  refused  positively  to 
take  up  the  question  of  moving  the  prisoner  to 
the  railroad  or  of  getting  entangled  in  the  mat 
ter  in  any  official  way.  The  matter  was  debated 
pro  and  con  for  a  long  time,  and  then  the  brother 
of  the  man  who  had  been  fatally  wounded,  finding 
that  it  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  get  legal 
vengeance,  suggested  that  they  go  back  to  the  old 
rule  of  the  plainsmen,  and  cut  off  the  first  and 
second  fingers  of  each  of  the  man's  hands,  so 
that  he  would  not  be  able  to  handle  trigger  again. 
This,  after  considerable  wrangling,  was  done,  and 
the  man,  with  blood  dripping  from  both  his  mu 
tilated  hands,  was  set  on  a  horse  and  started  along 
the  trail  to  pursue  his  fate,  wherever  that  might 
lead  him. 

In  the  meantime,  though  events  of  that  fairly 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  229 

rough  and  ready  character  were  happening  about 
them  constantly  down  in  that  wild  Pecos  coun 
try,  the  party  itself  was  singularly  free  from  mis 
haps.  Roger,  however,  had  a  narrow  escape  from 
what  might  have  been  a  serious  accident,  the  peril 
occurring  in  a  very  simple  manner.  He  was  gal 
loping  along  at  a  fair  speed  when  he  saw  im 
mediately  in  front  of  him  a  couple  of  bad  patches 
of  low  bisnaga  cactus.  The  boy  turned  his  mule 
sharply,  when  the  animal  put  his  foot  in  a  hole 
and  Roger  went  flying  over  his  head,  shooting  not 
more  than  a  couple  of  feet  above  those  barbed 
spines,  and  striking  the  ground  just  beyond  them. 
Barrs  was  seriously  alarmed,  and  showed  great 
relief  on  finding  that  the  boy  was  unhurt. 

11  One  of  my  men,"  he  said,  "  once  fell  from 
his  horse  in  just  some  such  way  as  you  did,  and 
put  out  one  hand — on  which  he  chanced  to  have  no 
glove — as  though  to  save  himself,  and  he  went 
down  with  his  whole  weight  on  one  hand  into  a 
bisnaga  cactus.  I  took  one  hundred  and  thirty 
spines  out  of  his  hand." 

"  And  was  he  permanently  injured?  "  said 
Roger,  realizing  that  he  himself  might  have  been 
very  seriously  hurt. 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it,"  was  the  reply.    "  He  was 


230        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

back  at  work  in  about  four  days,  and  within  two 
weeks  after  his  hand  had  bothered  him  very  little. 
But  he  certainly  had  scars  enough  afterward." 

About  a  week  after  this  narrow  escape,  Barrs 
told  Roger  that  in  a  day  or  two  the  work  on  the 
quadrangle  they  were  engaged  on  would  be  com 
pleted  and  that  they  would  upstake  two  days 
later  and  strike  for  the  next  section  to  the  west 
ward,  where  the  first  mapping  of  the  contour  had 
yet  to  be  made.  Then  Barrs  turned  to  Roger. 

11  I  don't  quite  know,"  he  said,  "  whether  that 
letter  you  brought  me  means  that  you  are  to  stay 
as  long  as  you  like,  or  as  long  as  I  want  you,  or 
what.  You  have  not  received  a  recall,  of  course, 
but  as  for  the  next  few  weeks,  we  will  simply  be 
getting  a  general  view  of  the  country,  I  shall  not 
need  an  extra  man,  and  I  think  you  ought  to  re 
port  in  Washington.  If  you  are  really  going  to 
Alaska  next  year,  I  don't  know  what  time  they 
intend  to  start,  and  you  ought  to  have  a  rest  first. 
Don't  think  I'm  driving  you  away,  but  it  is  bet 
ter  so,  that  is,  if  Rivers  is  really  going  to  take 
you  as  you  seem  to  think." 

"  As  I  hope,"  the  boy  corrected. 

"  Well,  as  you  hope,  then.  You  ought  to  be 
in  pretty  good  trim  for  it,  Doughty;  you've  had 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  231 

a  fairly  wide  experience,  and  you  don't  seem  to 
have  grown  thin  under  it.  What's  more,  I've 
taught  you  a  few  of  the  things  you  will  need  to 
know  in  the  theoretical  side  of  the  work,  so  that 
you  can  be  some  help  to  a  topographic  assistant, 
and  Masseth  has  given  you  a  start  in  geology. 
So,  I  think  the  best  thing  I  can  do  is  to  give  you 
a  letter  to  Mr.  Herold,  and  wish  you  good  luck 
on  your  journey." 

This  farewell  message,  the  boy  thought,  would 
be  his  last  word  in  the  Pecos  country,  but  riding 
in  to  Marfa,  the  town  on  the  railroad  nearest  to 
the  point  where  the  camp  had  broken  up,  he  found 
great  excitement.  So  far  as  he  could  gather,  it 
was  the  winding  up  of  a  feud  which  had  begun 
some  two  or  three  months  before. 

The  prisoner,  it  seemed,  some  months  ago  had 
been  shot  in  the  knee  by  a  man  who  was  almost 
a  stranger  to  him,  and  as  a  result  of  the  shot 
had  become  paralyzed  from  the  waist  down.  The 
man  who  had  shot  him  had  got  away.  Where 
upon  the  wounded  man,  certain  that  the  would-be 
murderer  must  return  to  his  home  some  time,  had 
rigged  up  a  little  tent  in  a  cactus  grove  near  the 
man's  house,  and  although  semi-paralyzed,  had 
lain  there  for  seven  weeks,  waiting  for  the  time 


232        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

when  his  foe  should  pass  along  the  trail.  At  last, 
late  one  evening,  he  heard  horse's  hoofs,  and 
looking  out,  saw  his  enemy  approaching.  As  he 
passed,  the  half-paralyzed  man  emptied  his  re 
volver  almost  at  point-blank  distance,  and  the 
other  dropped  from  his  horse,  dead. 

The  story  was  so  like  scores  of  others  that 
Roger  had  heard  that  he  paid  no  special  atten 
tion  until  the  words  "  Crooked  Antonio  "  struck 
his  ears,  and  on  inquiry,  learned  that  this  was  the 
man  who  had  been  killed.  Immediately  the  boy 
forced  himself  into  the  little  adobe  building,  and 
found  that  the  case  was  going  hard  against  the 
prisoner  because  he  could  not  give  any  reason 
why  "  Crooked  Antonio  "  had  become  his  enemy 
and  shot  at  him  in  the  first  place.  It  made  a 
sensation  when  Eoger  spoke  from  the  spectators. 

"  Please  your  honor,"  he  said,  "  I  know  some 
thing  about  this  case,"  and  the  crowd  gave  way 
for  him.  Then,  showing  his  credentials,  he  told 
the  story  of  the  manner  in  which  Crooked  An 
tonio  had  fired  into  the  Survey  tent,  and  later 
had  shot  at  the  prisoner  to  remove  a  possible 
witness.  It  was  the  only  point  needed,  and  as  it 
was  obvious  that  Crooked  Antonio  had  been  killed, 
the  prisoner  could  not  be  acquitted.  He  was 


PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE  233 

found  guilty  and  fined  one  cent,  that  justice  might 
be  done,  and  five  minutes  later  Roger  was  receiv 
ing  the  effusive  thanks  of  the  erstwhile  prisoner. 
"  Well,"  said  Ecger  to  himself,  as  they  parted, 
"  helping  a  chap  to  his  liberty  isn't  such  a  bad 
record  to  leave  as  your  last  act  in  the  Pecos 
country." 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   ALASKAN    TEIP  BEGUN 

IT  seemed  to  Roger  that  he  was  years  older 
when  he  entered  the  gray  portals  of  the  Geolog 
ical  Survey  building  in  Washington  and  walked 
past  the  big  relief  models  on  the  wall,  to  face 
what  he  felt  to  be  the  crucial  question  in  his  career 
—whether  his  season's  work  in  the  Survey  would 
merit  his  acceptance  by  Rivers  for  the  Alaskan 
trip.  He  found  his  official  superior,  Mr.  Herold, 
engaged,  and  so  went  in  to  thank  his  friend 
Mitchon  for  the  interest  that  he  had  shown  and 
the  kindly  letters  he  had  written. 

It  seemed  quite  home-like  to  him,  entering  once 
more  the  offices  of  the  Geological  Survey,  and  he 
spent  a  pleasant  half-hour  chatting  over  his  ex 
periences,  his  later  excitements  in  the  Pecos  coun 
try  arousing  special  interest.  He  was  about  to 
go  when  his  friend  stopped  him  with  a  gesture. 

"  Wait  till  I  come  back,"  he  said. 

A  few  minutes  later  he  returned,  saying : 

11  The  Director  would  like  to  see  you  for  a  mo- 

234 


THE  ALASKAN  TRIP  BEGUN     235 

merit."  The  boy  looked  up  with  surprise,  and 
the  secretary  continued  reassuringly,  "  There's 
nothing  to  be  scared  about,  I  don't  think  you'll 
consider  it  bad  news." 

Roger  rose  promptly  and  went  to  the  Director's 
office,  and  the  latter  shook  hands  heartily  and 
motioned  him  to  a  seat. 

"  I  think  I  ought  to  tell  you,  Mr.  Doughty," 
he  said,  and  Roger  straightened  up  at  least  one 
inch  at  the  manly  form  of  address,  "  that  I  have 
received  some  reports  from  Mr.  Herold,  relating 
to  the  various  parties  on  which  you  have  served, 
which  touch  on  your  progress  in  the  work.  You 
will  remember,  of  course,  your  meeting  with  the 
President?  " 

"  Yes  indeed,  sir,"  answered  the  boy. 

"  This  plan  to  secure  trained  workers  by  pick 
ing  desirable  material  from  the  colleges  and 
schools,  on  which  a  well-known  philanthropist  was 
so  keen,  has  aroused  no  little  interest  in  the  Sur 
vey.  As  you  were  the  first  to  go  out,  I  have  been 
anxious  to  see  how  the  scheme  would  develop,  and 
I  was  glad,  a  couple  of  months  ago,  to  be  able 
to  tell  the  President  that  Mr.  Carneller's  project 
was  proving  most  successful."  He  paused  a  mo 
ment.  "  It  is  but  right  to  you  to  say,"  he  con- 


236        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

tinned,  "  that  you  have  fulfilled  the  hopes  I  had, 
and  that  your  first  year's  work  on  the  Survey  is 
a  beginning  of  which  I  think  you  may  be  proud. ' ' 

Roger  flushed  hotly  at  this  praise,  and  seeing 
that  the  Director  awaited  a  reply,  said  simply : 

"  It  is  very  good  of  you  to  say  so,  sir.  I  just 
tried  to  do  my  best." 

"  Of  course,"  went  on  the  Director,  "  you  have 
a  great  deal  to  learn  and  are  very  new  in  the 
work,  so  I  don't  want  you  to  think  for  a  moment 
that  you  know  it  all — or  for  that  matter,  that  you 
ever  will.  But  those  with  whom  you  have  been 
speak  approvingly  of  your  obedience  to  the  call 
of  duty  and  of  your  ability  to  continue  hard  work 
uncomplainingly.  I  am  not  sure,"  there  was  a 
twinkle  in  the  speaker's  eye,  "  that  making  be 
lieve  to  be  lost  when  you  are  ensconced  in  the 
branches  of  a  tree  is  particularly  conducive  to 
discipline1?  '  He  waited  for  a  reply. 

Eoger  looked  at  him,  and  taking  courage  from 
the  lurking  smile,  answered: 

"  No,  sir.  But,"  he  added,  "  perhaps  as  much 
so  as  a  snipe-shoot." 

1 '  A  fair  answer, ' '  was  the  kind  reply.  ' '  Well, ' ' 
continued  the  Director,  a  little  more  author 
itatively,  "  I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  you  will 


THE  ALASKAN  TRIP  BEGUN     237 

achieve  your  desire  to  go  to  Alaska  next  season, 
though  I  should  not  wish  to  go  so  far  as  to  decide 
against  it.  In  any  case,  Mr.  Rivers,  as  head  of 
the  Alaskan  work,  chooses  his  own  men.  It  is 
not  that  I  am  afraid  of  your  not  doing  your  best," 
he  added,  seeing  the  look  of  disappointment  on 
the  boy's  face,  "  but  that  I  feel  it  might  be  a 
little  too  much  for  you.  The  Alaskan  work  is  a 
great  strain  for  young  bones." 

"  Not  more  so,  sir,  than  crossing  the  Grand 
Canyon,  is  it?  "  Roger  felt  emboldened  to  ask. 

"  Don't  boast!  "  came  the  sharp  rebuke,  "  I 
don't  like  it.  But,"  he  continued,  seeing  the  boy 
wilt  under  the  criticism,  "  I  merely  desired  to  see 
you  to  say  that  I  am  well  pleased  with  your  work, 
and  that  I  hope  the  college  assistants,  hereafter 
to  follow,  will  prove  equally  successful. ' ' 

Roger  left  the  office  of  the  Director  as  though 
he  were  treading  on  air,  a  feeling  enhanced  by  the 
cordial  reception  accorded  him  by  Herold,  the 
chief  geographer.  There  he  learned,  to  his  in 
tense  delight,  that  he  had  been  appointed  by 
Rivers  on  the  Alaskan  party,  which  was  to  spend 
the  entire  spring  and  summer  in  a  south  to  north 
reconnoissance  of  that  great  Arctic  territory. 

"  I  was  afraid,"  Roger  said  to  the  geographer, 


238        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  from  what  the  Director  said,  that  I  would  not 
get  the  appointment." 

"  Well,"  Herold  replied,  "  Mr.  Elvers  seemed 
to  feel  that  you  were  keen  for  it,  and  figured  that 
if  it  were  given  you,  you  would  strain  every  nerve 
to  make  good.  But,  you  see,  you  will  have  to  do 
your  utmost  to  justify  the  stand  that  Mr.  Elvers 
and  myself  have  taken." 

"  It  won't  be  for  want  of  trying,  Mr.  Herold," 
answered  Eoger,  his  eyes  shining. 

"  I  am  sure  of  that,  my  boy,"  said  the  older 
man  kindly,  "  and  that's  what  we  are  depending 
on.  Now,  let  me  see,  this  is  the  second  of  De 
cember,  isn't  it?  Elvers  sails  from  Seattle  on 
February  15th,  so  that  you  had  better  reckon 
on  being  there  about  the  12th.  Suppose  then, 
you  go  home  now  for  the  holidays,  take  just  a 
month,  and  report  in  Washington  here  on  Jan 
uary  2nd,  a  month  from  to-day.  Then  we'll 
give  you  a  few  weeks'  work  here  to  learn  some 
thing  about  headquarters,  and  then  you  can  go 
right  on  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  perhaps  spending  a 
day  or  two  at  home  before  starting  on  the 
expedition." 

Eoger  thanked  him  heartily,  as  much  for  his 
thoughtfulness  about  the  vacation  as  for  the  ap- 


THE  ALASKAN  TRIP  BEGUN     239 

pointment  he  had  desired  so  long.  Indeed  his 
month  at  home,  amid  an  air  in  which  he  was  a 
sort  of  hero,  passed  rapidly,  and  as  the  idol  of 
all  the  boys  in  the  neighborhood,  he  had  to  spin 
yarns  by  the  score,  these  tales  being  given  reality 
by  the  dozens  of  photographs  he  had  taken  on  the 
various  parties  of  which  he  had  been  a  member. 
Some  of  the  photos  were  his  own,  but  others  were 
prints  of  negatives  taken  by  the  assistant  topog 
raphers  usually,  for  nearly  every  party  in  the 
field  has  some  member  whose  skill  makes  him 
almost  an  official  photographer.  Indeed,  nearly 
every  one  on  the  Survey  is  a  master  of  pho 
tography,  and  few  outfits  do  not  contain  at  least 
one  excellent  camera. 

On  his  return  to  Washington  in  January,  how 
ever,  Roger  found  it  somewhat  tedious  to  settle 
to  indoor  office  work,  but  his  interest  grew  in 
finding  that  the  department  had  in  operation 
scores  of  other  lines  of  work  that  had  not  oc 
curred  to  him.  His  surprise  in  the  field  at  con 
stantly  encountering  new  avenues  of  work  be 
came  amazement  in  Washington,  when  he  first 
really  gained  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  de 
partment's  scope. 

On  the  question  of  maps  alone,  he  learned  how 


24o        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

important  the  Survey  is  to  the  country.  Maps 
which  should  show  a  mining  company  in  which 
direction  ore-bearing  veins  should  run,  maps 
which  should  inform  a  railroad  as  to  the  com 
parative  elevations  along  a  proposed  right  of 
way,  maps  which  should  teach  a  farmer  where 
to  sink  an  artesian  well  for  watering  his  stock, 
maps  which  form  the  basis  of  vast  irrigation 
projects,  maps  which  point  the  builder  where  to  go 
to  quarry  stone,  maps  to  form  the  basis  of  the  spe 
cial  timber  charts  of  the  Forestry  Service,  maps 
dealing  with  coal-producing  areas,  and  for  a  score 
of  other  purposes,  for  all  these  the  Survey  is 
called  on. 

And  there,  in  Washington,  the  year  through, 
Roger  found  expert  and  skilled  men  making  these 
maps,  compiling  them  from  the  sketches  made  in 
the  field,  correcting  minor  errors,  comparing  them 
with  former  data,  and  producing  works  of  ex 
actitude  and  immense  value.  Some  idea  of  the 
exactness  of  the  work  was  gained  by  the  boy 
when  it  was  pointed  out  to  him  that  in  the  Bureau 
of  Engraving  the  printing  of  all  this  exact  draw 
ing  must  be  done  in  a  room  where  the  tempera 
ture  and  humidity  are  the  same  the  year  round, 
since  paper  will  shrink  in  a  dry  spell  and  expand 


THE  ALASKAN  TRIP  BEGUN     241 

when  moist,  and  the  printing  of  such  a  map  ex 
tending  over  a  period  of  months,  might  thus  be 
made  fractionally  incorrect. 

Then  it  dawned  upon  the  lad  that  the  libraries 
of  scientific  records  of  which  Survey  workers  are 
the  authors  must  needs  require  time  and  labor, 
and  the  compilation  of  statistics  needed  in  other 
parts  of  the  government  service  also  takes  up 
time.  So  that  Roger  began  to  see  that  the  proof 
reading  of  all  geologic  and  topographic  maps,  all 
illustrations  and  all  text  of  Survey  papers  have 
to  be  done  and  revised  by  competent  men,  in 
order  that  the  scientific  accuracy  of  these  can 
never  be  impeached.  He  saw  the  scope  of  the 
annual  reports,  the  monographs,  the  professional 
papers  and  the  bulletins,  and  was  not  surprised 
to  learn  that  these  were  in  great  demand,  not  only 
in  the  United  States,  but  by  foreign  governments 
as  well. 

11  But  all  this,"  said  Roger  to  his  friend  the 
secretary,  as  they  were  talking  together  one  day, 
11  must  cost  the  country  a  heap  of  money." 

The  other  smiled. 

"  It  has  saved  the  country  a  great  deal  of 
money,"  he  said.  "  In  the  first  place  the  Survey 
is  very  economically  run,  and  then  besides,  mil- 


242        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

lions  of  dollars  have  been  put  into  the  hands  of 
manufacturing  interests  by  pointing  out  to  them 
the  value  of  by-products  which  formerly  were 
wasted." 

"  For  example,  Mr.  Mitchon?  " 

"  Well,  for  example,  the  waste  of  the  by 
products  of  coke-ovens,  such  as  coal-tar,  ammonia, 
etc.,"  replied  the  secretary.  "  Here,  come  with 
me  to  the  laboratories,  and  I'll  show  you." 

In  the  large  chemical  and  physical  laboratories 
at  Washington  the  boy  found  samples  of  metals 
and  minerals  of  ail  sorts  being  tested  and  ana 
lyzed.  He  found  that  all  the  great  works  of  the 
government  are  undertaken  only  with  the  advice 
of  the  Geological  Survey,  and  he  learned,  more 
over,  that  in  certain  branches  the  Chemical 
Laboratories  stand  higher  than  those  of  any  gov 
ernment  in  the  world. 

As  each  day  passed  the  lad  heard  of  some  new 
activity  of  the  Survey.  He  learned  that  every 
ton  of  coal  consumed  and  every  ounce  of  gold 
mined,  was  duly  recorded  by  the  Survey,  and  to 
his  amazement  discovered  that  the  due  safe 
guarding  of  life  in  mines  and  quarries  was  not 
outside  its  province.  The  refining  of  oil  was  re 
garded  as  appertaining  to  minerals,  and  many 


THE  ALASKAN  TRIP  BEGUN     243 

difficulties  of  fuel  in  steam  engineering  the  boy 
found  to  have  been  minimized  by  the  Survey  in 
the  power  and  lighting  plants  of  the  government. 
And,  if  this  were  not  enough,  it  was  borne  in  upon 
him  that  even  such  structural  materials  as  brick, 
terra  cotta  and  the  concrete  bodies,  had  in  some 
cases  found  their  beginnings  and  in  others  their 
best  development  under  a  further  division  of  the 
Survey. 

Then,  to  cap  all,  it  was  shown  to  Koger,  that 
this  multifarious  work  required  careful  and  pru 
dent  administration,  supervising  all  the  details  of 
personnel,  expense,  purchase,  and  distribution  of 
supplies  and  so  forth,  to  say  nothing  of  adjunct 
matters,  like  library  and  fossil  work.  Thus  it 
was,  that  when  the  boy  left  Washington  a  month 
later,  he  had  decided  that  an  entire  lifetime  on  the 
Survey  would  be  all  too  little  to  grasp  the  vast  and 
dominating  usefulness  that  it  bore  to  the  country 
at  large. 

Thus  the  fated  day  arrived  for  Roger's  start. 
He  had  made  himself  well-liked  all  through  the 
building,  and  there  were  many  to  wish  him  luck 
on  the  expedition.  A  most  hearty  and  cordial 
good-fellowship  Roger  found  to  run  through  all 
departments,  and  the  good  wishes  of  his  superiors 


244        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

and  companions  were  happy  auguries  for  the 
start.  The  Director,  too,  called  him  into  his  of 
fice  and  gave  him  a  most  encouraging  send-off, 
sounding  no  note  of  doubtfulness  or  regret,  and 
Roger  felt,  as  he  left  Washington,  that  no  boy 
could  ask  pleasanter  friends  or  more  helpful 
comrades  than  those  he  had  met  on  the 
Survey. 

The  chief  geographer  had  accorded  him  an  extra 
two  days'  leave  in  which  to  go  home  before  he 
need  start  for  Seattle,  and  Roger  was  full  of 
pride,  as  his  former  schoolmates  gathered  around 
him  to  be  able  to  speak  loftily  of  traversing  * '  ter 
ritory  on  which  no  white  man  had  ever  set  his 
foot."  It  was  a  little  boastfully  put,  but  as  after 
events  proved,  it  was  true  none  the  less. 

The  journey  across  the  continent  gave  time  for 
reflection,  and  now  that  there  was  no  chance  of 
drawing  back,  the  warnings  and  advice  that  had 
been  given  to  Eoger  rushed  over  him  like  a  flood, 
and  he  had  for  a  while  a  haunting  fear  lest  any 
thing  should  happen  on  the  trail  to  shake  the 
confidence  his  superiors  had  in  him.  But  these 
fears  vanished  like  a  morning  mist,  when,  arrived 
at  Seattle,  he  went  on  board  the  gunboat,  lying 
a  short  distance  from  the  shore,  and  realized  that 


245 

he,  Roger,  had  a  right  to  board  a  vessel  of  the 
United  States  Navy. 

Rivers  was  on  deck,  and  he  came  forward 
promptly  to  meet  the  boy,  saying,  as  he  shook 
hands : 

"  So  you  made  good,  didn't  you,  eh?  Well, 
I  thought  you  would." 

Roger  laughed  quietly. 

"  You  said  I  had  to!  "  he  replied. 

The  boy's  new  chief  gave  a  half-smile. 

' '  Well, ' '  he  said, ' '  if  you  always  do  everything 
I  say  you  have  to  do,  I'll  be  quite  satisfied.  But 
it's  not  a  summer  picnic,  by  any  means,  and  you 
may  be  sorry  before  you're  through." 

"  That  may  be,  Mr.  Rivers,"  answered  the  boy 
cheerily,  "  but  I'm  not  sorry  yet.  I'm  mighty 
glad  to  be  here." 

"  I've  been  sorry  often  enough  that  I  took  up 
field  work,  but "  he  paused. 

11  But  what?  "  asked  Roger. 

"  But  I  couldn't  get  back  to  it  quick  enough 
the  next  year,"  answered  the  geologist. 

"  If  the  past  summer  is  any  test,"  went  on 
Roger,  "  I  guess  I'll  be  the  same  way,  for  I  never 
enjoyed  anything  so  much  in  all  my  life.  Why,  I 
felt  quite  stifled  back  in  Washington." 


246        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  If  you've  been  caught  with  the  exploring 
fever,"  rejoined  the  older  man,  "  there's  nothing 
more  to  be  said,  for  that's  a  disease  for  which 

there  is  no  cure,  except "  He  paused  abruptly 

again. 

"  Yes?  "  queried  Eoger. 

"  Except  old  age,  and  that  the  explorer  never 
reaches,"  was  the  steady  reply.  "  And  now  you 
must  meet  the  rest  of  the  boys." 

He  turned  to  the  topographer,  who  was  stand 
ing  near. 

"  Mr.  Gersup,"  he  said,  "  this  is  the  boy." 

"  I  see  it's  a  boy,"  answered  the  other,  smiling, 
"  but  I  didn't  know  it  was  '  the  '  boy.  I  guess. 
Doughty,  from  the  way  Mr.  Rivers  talks,  that 
you're  only  just  a  trifle  less  important  in  the  Sur 
vey  than  the  Director."  He  laughed  out  loud. 

Roger  broke  in  protestingly,  but  Rivers  inter 
rupted. 

"  Don't  mind  him,  Doughty,  he's  always  that 
way." 

"  Don't  mind  him  either,  Doughty,"  replied  the 
topographer,  "  he's  always  that  way."  And 
Roger  thought  it  promised  well  for  the  cheerful 
ness  of  the  party  to  find  the  chief  and  the  topog 
rapher  on  joking  terms. 


THE  ALASKAN  TRIP  BEGUN     247 

Later  the  boy  found  Gersup's  cheerfulness  and 
optimism  to  be  invaluable  on  the  trip.  He  had  a 
short,  thick-set,  stocky  frame  and  possessed  to  an 
extreme  degree  the  power  of  seeing  the  best  pos 
sible  side  of  every  situation.  His  persuasive 
powers  were  so  great  that,  as  one  of  the  party 
said  afterward,  "  he  could  talk  a  mule's  heels 
down  in  the  middle  of  a  kick !  ' '  He  had  an  unerr 
ing  eye  for  the  topography  of  a  country,  as  was 
afterwards  shown,  and  before  they  had  been 
many  days  in  Alaska,  Eoger  would  have  unhes 
itatingly  declared  both  the  geologist  and  topog 
rapher  of  the  party  to  be  absolutely  infallible 
in  their  own  lines,  though  they  would  both 
promptly  have  disclaimed  any  such  statement. 

The  assistant  topographer  of  the  party,  to  whom 
the  boy  was  next  introduced,  was  a  great  sur 
prise.  He  looked  like  anything  except  what  he 
was.  Not  particularly  prepossessing,  he  had  a 
large  head,  already  nearly  bald,  he  was  slightly 
bow-legged  and  short  and  scant  of  speech.  It 
was  not  until  weeks  later  that  the  boy  found  out 
why  he  had  been  selected  for  the  trip.  His 
strength  was  herculean,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  he  was  not  slightly  built  he  could  put  a  moun 
tain  goat  to  shame  at  scaling  an  apparently  in- 


248        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

accessible  crag.  As  Magee,  the  Irishman  of  the 
party,  described  him,  "  Tie  his  hands  behind  his 
back,  and  he'll  climb  up  the  side  of  a  house  with 
his  toenails  and  his  eyebrows." 

Of  the  two  camp  hands,  one  was  an  Indian  called 
Harry,  a  fine  specimen  of  one  of  the  famous  tribes 
which  successfully  resisted  Russian  rule  in  the 
early  years,  and  who  was  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  expert  canoeists  who  had  ever  been  in  the 
Survey. 

The  other  was  Magee.  And  Magee  was  suffi 
ciently  described  by  his  full  name,  which  was 
Patrick  Aloysius  Magee.  He  was  a  devil-may- 
care  Irishman  from  Galway,  who  had  spent  fifteen 
years  in  the  gold  camps,  and  had  tossed  over  the 
poker  table  and  the  faro  layout  the  little  bags  of 
gold  dust  that  had  represented  years  of  weary 
work.  It  was  not  that  hope  had  died  out  in  him, 
which  made  him  leave  prospecting  and  take  to 
the  Survey,  but  in  his  own  way  of  putting  it, 
"  There  were  too  many  men  of  the  female  sex 
around  the  gold  camps  now."  He  had  been  a 
sailor  for  some  years,  too,  in  the  old  sailing-ship 
days,  and  had  left  the  sea  because  of  his  contempt 
for  steam. 

As  for  the  cook,  his  chief  recommendation  was 


THE  ALASKAN  TRIP  BEGUN     249 

that  "  he  could  cook  an  eight-course  dinner  out 
of  a  pair  of  old  boots,  and  make  a  man  believe  he 
had  had  something  to  eat  when  he  was  still  as 
hungry  as  when  he  sat  down."  Altogether, 
Roger  thought,  as  the  little  gunboat  got  under 
way  and  steamed  for  Seldovia,  near  the  south 
ern  bend  of  the  Kenai  peninsula,  a  more  aggres 
sive  body  of  men  he  had  never  met,  and  he  de 
termined  to  hold  up  his  end,  no  matter  what  should 
come. 

The  gunboat  arrived  at  Seldovia  on  February 
21st,  and  as  the  cable  rattled  through  the  hawse- 
hole  Rivers  took  command  of  the  party.  His 
easy  manner  dropped  like  a  mask,  and  orders 
sharp  and  incisive  fell  like  hail.  All  the  supplies 
and  equipment  for  the  first  part  of  the  journey 
had  been  sent  there  the  summer  before,  and  were 
being  kept  by  the  storekeeper.  No  sooner  were 
they  ashore  than  Roger  was  told  off  with  Harry 
to  "  get  the  dogs,"  and  the  boy  accordingly  found 
himself  before  a  yard  where  twenty- two  "  hus 
kies  ';|  were  "  yapping  "  and  howling  to  their 
hearts'  content.  Of  these,  six  were  "  outside  " 
dogs,  imported  from  the  United  States,  usually 
mongrel  ma  stiffs,  and  the  other  sixteen  "  huskies  " 
or  native  dogs,  in  this  case  nearly  all  Malemut, 


250        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

with  a  strain  of  Siwash.  The  reason  for  the  two 
kinds  of  dogs,  Harry  explained  to  Roger  in  answer 
to  a  question,  was  that  the  outside  dog  is  better  as 
a  leader,  as  he  is  more  intelligent  and  less  muti 
nous,  but  that  the  bulk  of  the  work  is  to  be  done 
by  native  dogs  as  they  require  less  food  and  care, 
and  having  a  dense  pelt,  like  the  wolf,  endure 
hardship  far  better,  while  on  a  rough  trail  they 
are  less  liable  to  fall  lame. 

The  dogs  being  duly  gathered  together,  the 
harness  and  sleds  inspected,  Roger  assisted  his 
chief  in  checking  over  the  supplies  and  seeing 
that  they  were  carried  to  the  gunboat  for  trans 
port  to  the  other  side  of  Cook  Inlet.  Everything 
was  found  intact  and  as  had  been  ordered,  so  that 
little  delay  was  sustained.  The  overseeing  of 
these  things,  however,  took  the  entire  day,  but  by 
evening  the  dogs  were  on  board  and  everything 
disposed  for  easy  transhipment  in  the  morning. 

Bright  and  early  the  next  day  the  gunboat  got 
her  anchor  up  and  started  across  the  Inlet,  seek 
ing  a  landing-place  as  high  up  as  possible.  In 
less  than  two  hours  from  Seldovia  the  ice  was 
reached,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  a  land 
ing  on  the  western  side  of  the  Inlet.  A  small 
bay,  which  appeared  on  the  charts  as  Snug  Har- 


THE  ALASKAN  TRIP  BEGUN     251 

bor,  was  chosen  as  the  place  for  debarkation,  which 
by  noon  was  under  way. 

The  landing  was  not  easy,  owing  to  the  ice 
along  the  banks,  and  Koger  got  a  foretaste  of 
what  was  coming  by  having  to  jump  overboard 
and  wade  through  the  water,  breaking  the  ice,  to 
carry  the  supplies  ashore.  In  a  short  while  every 
thing  was  landed,  to  the  satisfaction  of  Eivers, 
who  had  not  hoped  to  be  able  to  run  as  far  up 
the  Inlet.  There,  standing  on  the  snow,  with  the 
dogs  howling  behind  him,  Eoger  stood  beside  the 
chief,  unheeding  that  he  was  cased  in  ice  above 
the  knees,  and  watched  the  gunboat  dip  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  once  in  token  of  farewell.  The  Alas 
kan  trip  was  begun. 


CHAPTER  XHI 

WKESTLING  WITH  A  MOUNTAIN  GOAT 

WHILE  the  rest  of  the  party  was  engaged  in 
landing  supplies,  Eivers  ordered  Gersup  and  his 
assistant,  Bulson,  to  strike  inland  a  short  way  in 
the  direction  of  the  volcano,  Redoubt  Peak,  dis 
tant  about  twenty-five  miles,  in  the  expectation 
of  finding  a  trail  near  by.  It  seemed  obvious  that 
there  must  be  a  route  along  the  coast,  and  that 
it  must  lie  between  the  waterside  and  the  foot 
hills  of  the  Chigmit  Mountains.  Less  than  an 
hour  elapsed  before  the  men  returned  with  the 
news  that  the  trail  had  been  located,  but  that  it 
was  entirely  snowed  under.  The  dogs  accord 
ingly  were  hitched  to  the  three  sleds,  one  of  the 
outside  dogs  leading,  and  the  topographer  going 
ahead  on  snowshoes  to  point  out  the  trail. 

Roger  had  always  had  the  idea  that  "  mush 
ing  "  or  driving  a  dog  team,  consisted  of  sitting 
in  state  on  the  sled  and  cracking  a  conspicuously 
long  whip  at  the  dogs,  but  he  speedily  found  out 

his  mistake.    Instead  of  sitting  on  the  sled  he 

252 


A  MOUNTAIN  GOAT  253 

had  to  walk  behind  it,  and  in  a  great  many  in 
stances  to  help  the  dogs  by  shoving  it  along.  In 
stead  of  being  able  to  take  things  easy  and  let 
the  teams  do  the  work,  the  boy  learned  that  the 
"  musher  "  had  to  labor  far  harder  and  more 
continuously  than  the  dogs  themselves. 

They  had  not  traveled  far  when  Gersup  called 
from  in  front: 

' '  There 's  the  trail !  ' '  and  pointed  ahead  to  the 
right. 

Boger  looked  eagerly  in  the  direction  pointed 
out,  expecting  to  see  a  fairly  well-beaten  road, 
over  which  the  succeeding  day  they  could  travel 
with  comfort,  but  look  as  he  might  he  could  see 
no  signs  of  a  trail.  The  chief's  grunt  of  satis 
faction,  however,  was  evidence  enough  to  the  boy 
that  the  trail  really  was  there,  and  as  he  did  not 
want  to  expose  his  ignorance  by  asking  any  un 
necessary  question,  he  kept  his  wonderings  to 
himself. 

Having  got  fairly  started  on  the  trail,  how 
ever,  the  boy  found  travel  easier,  yet  he  was  glad 
when  the  word  was  given  for  a  halt,  near  some 
heavy  timber,  affording  the  materials  for  a  fire. 
The  tents  were  quickly  pitched,  wood  gathered 
for  a  roaring  blaze,  the  animals  fed  and  the  sleep- 


254        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

ing  bags  laid  out,  and  in  a  surprisingly  short 
time  the  party  was  gathered  around  a  savory 
supper  prepared  by  the  cook  while  the  rest  of 
the  men  were  pitching  camp. 

The  party  carried  a  light-weight,  sheet-iron 
stove,  which  was  a  great  convenience  inside  the 
tent,  but,  of  course,  the  food  for  the  dogs  was 
cooked  on  an  outside  fire.  With  slight  occasional 
changes,  the  food  given  was  rice  with  a  little 
bacon,  and  usually  dried  salmon  besides.  Koger 
noted  that  they  were  fed  but  once  a  day, 
and  could  not  help  thinking  how  hardly  used  the 
petted  dogs  of  civilization  would  consider  them 
selves  if  they  were  to  be  subjected  to  such  treat 
ment. 

Eoger  slept  soundly,  despite  his  new  surround 
ings,  and  the  night  seemed  all  too  brief  for  him 
when  he  was  roused  by  the  cook.  Being  Febru 
ary,  the  days  were  short,  and  though  it  was  nearly 
seven  o'clock  when  the  camp  was  wakened  it  was 
almost  full  dark.  But  few  minutes  were  allowed 
before  George  shouted,  "  Breakfast,"  and  Roger 
fell  to  with  the  rest  of  the  men,  feeling  as  though 
he  could  eat  the  entire  provision  of  the  party  at 
one  meal.  After  breakfast,  Rivers  told  the  boy 
that  he  would  be  expected,  at  the  breaking  up  of 


A  MOUNTAIN  GOAT  255 

camp  in  the  mornings,  to  help  Harry,  the  Indian, 
in  the  harnessing  and  getting  ready  of  the  dogs, 
as  most  of  the  other  men  were  more  expert  at 
loading  a  sled. 

It  sounded  easy  enough,  but  Eoger  soon  discov 
ered  that  it  was  far  from  being  a  snap.  To  har 
ness  a  dog,  or  even  a  dozen,  was  not  such  a  diffi 
cult  matter,  but  to  hitch  them  to  the  sled  and  to 
make  them  stay  where  they  were  after  they  were 
hitched,  that  was  another  question.  The  "  hus 
kies  "  seemed  to  take  malicious  joy  in  trying  to  get 
their  harness  tangled,  and  there  was  always  the 
possibility  of  a  scrap  to  be  warded  off.  So  it  came 
about  that  the  boy  usually  had  his  hands  full  in 
the  morning,  and  was  not  sorry  when  the  day's 
pulling  was  begun  and  the  dogs  settled  down  to 
their  work. 

The  country  over  which  they  were  traveling, 
moreover,  was  ideal  for  dog  work.  The  land  was 
flat  from  the  waterside  up  to  the  sudden  rise  of 
the  hills,  which  were  lofty  and  rugged,  10,000  to 
15,000  feet  in  height,  snow-capped  and  glacier- 
bearing.  Little  though  Eoger  knew  as  a  geol 
ogist,  yet  he  was  keen  enough  to  see  that  this  wide 
channel  must  be  the  delta  of  a  large  river,  and  he 
was  glad  to  get  an  affirmative  response  to  his 


256        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

suggestion  that  in  the  summer  time  this  might  be 
a  good  agricultural  country. 

"  The  climate  in  summer  here,"  said  Gersup, 
whom  Eoger  had  asked  the  question,  "  is  noth 
ing  short  of  heavenly,  but  you  could  hardly  call 
it  thickly  settled  as  yet." 

"  But  it  will  be  some  day  1?    Do  you  suppose?  " 

11  Most  assuredly,"  answered  the  topographer. 
<  <  There  are  thousands  upon  thousands  of  acres  of 
land  here,  which  would  return  immense  crops,  and 
all  along  up  the  river.  All  that  is  needed  is  a 
market  for  the  produce." 

"  But  how  about  moving  it!  "  asked  the  boy. 

"  The  Sushitna  Eiver  is  navigable  for  a  hun 
dred  miles  to  steamers  of  light  draught,  and  to 
barges.  You'll  see  this  all  in  farm  like  the  Bed 
River  Valley  some  of  these  days." 

The  thermometer  staying  about  ten  degrees  be 
low  zero  made  the  thought  of  waving  crops  a 
strange  one,  but  this  very  low  temperature  was 
the  best  of  all  possible  advantages  to  the  party, 
as  it  was  good  for  dog  traveling.  Cold  enough 
to  keep  the  trails  in  excellent  shape,  it  was  not 
too  cold  for  traveling  in  comfort.  Two  days  suf 
ficed  to  bring  the  party  to  the  point  of  land  jut 
ting  out  in  the  sea  that  makes  Cook  Inlet  a  double 


A  MOUNTAIN  GOAT  257 

bay,  but  at  this  point,  which  is  known  as  North 
Foreland,  a  sudden  drop  in  temperature,  coupled 
with  a  gale  of  wind,  delayed  progress,  so  that 
in  all  six  days  had  elapsed  from  the  time  of  land 
ing  until  they  pulled  into  Tyonok.  This  is  one 
of  the  oldest  mainland  settlements  of  southwest 
ern  Alaska,  having  been  used  as  the  mainland 
port  of  the  former  Russian  capital,  Kodiak,  on 
Kodiak  Island. 

One  day  was  spent  at  Tyonok  purchasing  and 
packing  larger  supplies  of  dog  feed,  of  which  only 
enough  for  a  couple  of  weeks'  journey  had  been 
taken  from  Seldovia.  Dog-feed  is  the  one  article 
that  can  always  be  procured  from  the  natives, 
but  as  there  was  no  assurance  that  the  Survey 
party  would  meet  any  natives  up  the  river  at 
that  time  of  year,  Rivers  decided  to  complete  his 
supply  before  he  started.  Despite  the  importance 
of  Tyonok  as  a  trading  post,  almost  ranking  as 
a  prominent  seaport,  Roger  found  it  to  consist 
of  about  forty-five  rude  log  shanties,  only  one, 
the  general  store,  being  more  than  one  story  in 
height.  In  summer,  so  the  lad  was  informed,  hun 
dreds  of  tents  are  erected  along  the  shore,  but  the 
winter  population,  for  such  an  important  point, 
is  ridiculously  small. 


258        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

On  March  1st,  leaving  Tyonok  behind,  the  party 
proceeded  along  the  western  bank  of  the  Sushitna 
River.  The  trail,  which  had  been  comparatively 
visible  as  far  as  Tyonok,  now  was  problematic, 
sometimes  the  sleds  were  on  it,  sometimes  not, 
but  little  difference  could  be  observed.  Kivers 
did  not  follow  the  winding  of  the  stream,  but  as 
far  as  possible  kept  a  straight  course,  though 
frequently  diverted  by  impassable  bits  of  brush. 
Over  the  Beluga  marshes,  which  a  month  hence 
could  not  be  crossed,  the  party  skimmed  readily, 
a  firm  crust  having  formed  on  the  snow  and  the 
dogs  being  in  good  condition.  Successive  camps 
were  made  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sushitna,  at  Alex 
ander,  and  at  Sushitna  Station,  the  latter  a  post 
of  the  Alaskan  Commercial  Company  for  trad 
ing  with  the  natives,  and  the  next  day  at 
Kroto.  This  was  the  last  settlement  seen  during 
the  first  part  of  the  trip;  and  for  many  weeks, 
March  6th  was  the  last  date  that  Roger  saw 
any  human  being  except  the  members  of  his 
party. 

Faint  as  the  trail  had  been,  it  had  been  suffi 
cient  to  point  out  to  the  men  where  conditions 
were  favorable,  or  at  least  possible,  but  after  leav 
ing  Kroto  the  signs  disappeared  entirely.  For  a 


A  MOUNTAIN  GOAT  259 

couple  of  hundred  yards,  perhaps,  there  might  be 
smooth  going,  then  the  party  would  be  brought  to 
an  abrupt  halt  by  a  belt  of  forest,  through  which 
perhaps  a  way  would  have  to  be  made,  or  around 
which  a  detour  would  be  necessary,  consuming  a 
great  deal  of  time. 

Generally  it  was  possible  to  make  some  distance 
on  the  river  ice,  though  that  was  extremely  rough 
and  bad  traveling,  and  days  would  be  spent  in 
passing  from  one  form  of  progress  to  another, 
much  labor  being  expended,  but  the  party  going 
forward  all  the  time.  What  made  it  seem  the 
harder  to  Roger  was  that  it  was  still  cold  enough 
to  require  heavy  clothing  while  going  ahead  on 
the  trail,  yet  being  so  warmly  clad  rendered  the 
labor  at  difficult  places  very  fatiguing,  and  if  he 
perspired,  the  cold  wind  afterward  chilled  him  to 
the  bone. 

It  was  speedily  evident  that  the  rapid  march 
of  the  first  few  days  was  no  true  index  of  the 
time  to  be  consumed  on  the  trip,  for  while  the 
distance  from  Kroto  to  the  mouth  of  the  Chulitna, 
the  great  tributary  of  the  river  up  which  they 
were  proceeding,  was  the  same  as  from  Kroto 
to  Tyonok,  it  took  the  party  exactly  three  times 
as  long.  It  was  not  until  March  25th  that  the 


260        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Chulitna  was  crossed  and  the  journey  up  the 
higher  portion  of  the  river  begun. 

But  each  day's  travel  now  brought  the  moun 
tains  closer  upon  them,  and  the  banks  of  the  river 
narrowed.  The  flat  plain  of  the  lower  valley  was 
disappearing  and  the  mountains  sloped  nearer  the 
water's  edge.  On  the  farther  shore  the  Talkeetna 
range,  isolated  from  all  other  mountains,  rose  al 
most  sheer  from  the  water,  while  on  the  shore 
the  party  traveled,  though  beyond  the  Chulitna, 
the  great  Alaskan  range  towered  up  into  the 
clouds,  Mt.  McKinley,  the  highest  peak  in  the 
United  States,  rearing  his  20,300  feet,  snow 
capped  and  glacier-bearing,  statuesque  above  all 
lower  eminences. 

Eivers,  however,  silent  and  determined,  wasted 
no  time  or  energy,  but  pushed  on  relentlessly 
every  minute  of  the  daylight,  and  often  in  dawn 
and  dusk,  while  the  light  was  yet  dim.  With  this 
persistence  it  was  but  April  10th  when  a  halt  was 
called  at  a  little  cabin,  built  at  the  mouth  of  In 
dian  Creek,  and  which  had  been  used  by  a  former 
Survey  party,  who  had  ascended  the  Sushitna 
and  Indian  Creek  in  the  summer  by  canoes.  It 
had  taken  that  party  over  three  months,  while 
Eivers  had  been  less  than  half  that  time. 


M  S* 

J  O 

H-c  =*H 

£  O 

ol 

H  M 

s  §• 

g  •? 

?  ^ 

S  r^H 

-<  CO 

fe  S 

d 


&D 

O 

T3 


A  MOUNTAIN  GOAT  261 

From  there  the  route  taken  branched  off  along 
Indian  Creek,  which  could  only  be  called  a  mode 
of  passage  by  courtesy.  They  could  not  travel 
along  the  banks  for  timber,  and  rock  came  to  the 
water's  edge,  and  as  the  creek  bed  was  a  suc 
cession  of  boulders  and  rapids,  half  the  time  the 
sleds  had  to  be  lifted  and  practically  carried  over 
obstructions,  in  order  that  perhaps  for  twenty 
or  thirty  feet  there  might  be  a  spot  of  good  going. 
Three  days  it  took  them  to  cover  the  twelve  miles, 
and  April  13th  found  the  party  at  the  entrance  of 
the  Chulitna  Pass,  3,000  feet  above  sea  level. 

Here,  of  course,  it  was  practically  blind  going, 
but  despite  the  hard  trip  the  dogs  were  in  fairly 
good  condition  and  with  Bulson's  muscle  and 
Harry's  knowledge  of  the  multifold  peculiarities 
of  the  "  husky,"  they  managed  to  worry  through 
the  pass  in  four  days,  reaching  the  little  cache  and 
log  hut  at  the  mouth  of  the  Jack  River,  which  was 
their  objective  point.  So  far  they  had  been  able 
to  go  with  dogs,  and  no  further,  whereupon  the 
work  of  unpacking  the  sleds  was  begun,  the  two 
canoes  duly  inspected  and  found  uninjured,  the 
supplies  redistributed,  and  the  two  Indians  who 
had  been  picked  up  at  Sushitna  Station  to  take 
back  the  dogs,  were  promptly  sent  back  upon  the 


262        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

downward  trail  before  the  river  should  break  up 
and  make  dog-travel  impossible.  Of  course,  as  it 
was  pointed  out,  rapid  time  could  be  made  with  an 
empty  sled,  and  the  drivers  need  rarely  walk. 

During  all  this  time  the  whole  energies  of  the 
party  had  been  given  entirely  to  making  headway, 
and  no  time  had  been  spent  either  in  topographical 
or  geological  work,  but  the  urgency  had  borne 
fruit.  Rivers  told  Roger  that  he  had  allowed  two 
months  and  a  half  for  the  journey  to  their  present 
place,  and  they  were  ten  days  ahead  of  the 
schedule. 

"  And  what  is  to  be  done  now,  Mr.  Rivers!  " 
asked  the  boy. 

"  Wait  till  the  ice  breaks,  Doughty,"  replied 
the  geologist,  "  and  in  the  meantime  some  little 
investigation  of  the  range  may  not  be  amiss." 

The  third  day  after  they  had  made  their  semi 
permanent  camp  Rivers  took  the  boy  with  him  on 
a  geological  trip  back  to  Caribou  Pass,  the  most 
practicable  opening  in  the  entire  Alaskan  Range. 
He  spent  some  time  in  explaining  to  the  boy  the 
general  configuration  of  the  range,  and  taught  him 
a  good  deal  about  the  glacial  conditions  of  the 
region.  Happening  to  observe  a  curious  immense 
boulder  in  the  pass,  in  the  form  of  a  rock  almost 


A  MOUNTAIN  GOAT  263 

flat  on  the  top,  about  twenty  feet  square  and 
nearly  as  many  high,  it  occurred  to  Rivers  that  he 
might  discern  distinct  striated  lines  of  glaciation 
if  he  could  get  up  there  on  the  rock  to  see.  The 
boulder  was  somewhat  difficult  to  climb,  but  by 
getting  on  Roger's  shoulders,  the  geologist  was 
able  to  reach  a  point  where  he  could  get  a  grip  of 
the  rock. 

But,  just  as  he  worked  himself  over  the  edge  of 
the  boulder,  what  was  his  amazement  to  see  a 
mountain  goat,  evidently  descending  from  the  cliff 
above,  land  with  a  clatter  of  hoofs  on  the  rock  not 
ten  feet  away  from  him.  Rivers  promptly 
scrambled  to  his  feet,  and  the  goat,  apparently 
thinking  himself  cornered  and  facing  boldly  an 
unknown  danger,  rushed  at  him  with  lowered 
horns.  A  quick  sideways  jump  was  all  that  saved 
the  geologist,  and  the  goat  nearly  went  headlong 
over  the  edge  with  his  rush. 

For  a  minute  or  two  Roger  was  in  utter  igno 
rance  of  what  had  happened,  for  being  immediately 
under  the  rock  while  the  chief  was  standing  on  his 
shoulders,  he  had  not  seen  the  goat  leap  down  to 
dispute  the  supremacy  of  position  with  the  un 
expected  intruder.  Not  till  he  heard  Rivers  call 
to  him  did  he  know  that  anything  was  wrong. 


264        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  Doughty,"  he  heard  him  say,  "  put  a  bullet 
in  this  infernal  brute,  will  you  1  ' ' 

The  boy  ran  back  to  get  a  perspective  view  of 
the  top  of  the  boulder,  and  by  climbing  up  the 
cliff  a  little  way  saw  what  had  developed.  In  the 
meantime  the  position  of  the  geologist  was  pre 
carious  in  the  extreme.  A  succession  of  short 
rushes  he  had  narrowly  escaped  by  dodging,  but 
he  knew  that  in  a  chase  of  this  kind,  he  could  not 
but  lose,  and  if  the  goat  should  catch  him  with 
his  horns  not  only  would  the  injury  be  serious 
enough  in  itself,  but  probably  he  would  be  thrown 
from  the  rock  to  fall  a  distance  of  twenty  feet  to 
the  icy  and  frost-bound  ground  below. 

Suddenly  Eivers  saw  his  opportunity,  and  as 
the  goat  paused  to  turn  at  the  end  of  a  futile  rush, 
he  seized  his  horns  sideways  with  a  firm  grasp, 
in  such  wise  that  the  creature  could  not  get  a  pur 
chase  with  which  to  butt,  and  determined  to  hang 
on  for  dear  life.  He  purposed,  if  it  could  be 
managed,  to  drive  the  goat  to  the  edge  of  the 
boulder,  and  then,  by  twisting  its  neck,  force  it 
over  the  edge.  It  was  a  doubtful  chance,  but  the 
only  one  he  could  see. 

In  the  meantime  Roger  was  cudgeling  his  brain 
for  some  means  of  climbing  the  rock,  but  to  no 


A  MOUNTAIN  GOAT  265 

purpose,  and  he  could  have  bitten  his  nails  in 
sheer  vexation  of  spirit  at  his  inability  to  give  any 
aid,  with  his  friend  in  so  great  peril  a  few  steps 
away. 

The  boy  watched  and  waited  in  the  chance  of 
getting  a  shot  at  the  goat,  but  found  it  difficult  to 
find  an  opportunity.  Once,  indeed,  he  fired,  feel 
ing  sure  that  he  could  hit  the  animal's  flank,  but 
he  was  not  certain  enough  of  his  prowess  with  a 
revolver  to  risk  a  shot  when  he  was  just  as  likely 
to  hit  his  chief  as  he  was  the  goat.  Once,  indeed, 
the  boy  thought  Rivers  had  his  foe,  for  he  forced 
him  to  the  edge  of  the  boulder  and  put  all  his 
strength  into  a  violent  wrench.  But  a  mountain 
goat,  though  not  large,  is  possessed  of  consider 
able  strength,  and  in  his  effort  to  free  himself  al 
most  sent  Rivers  over  the  edge. 

Then  suddenly  an  idea  occurred  to  the  boy,  and 
watching  a  chance,  with  a  gentle  toss  he  pitched 
his  revolver  up  on  the  rock,  hoping  that  the  chief 
might  be  able  to  find  some  way  of  picking  it  up. 
A  wild  and  vigorous  scrambling  could  be  heard, 
and  a  moment  later  the  boy  saw  the  couple  again 
perilously  near  the  edge  of  the  rock. 

11  Thanks  for  the  gun,"  he  heard  Rivers  sing 
out,  "  I'll  get  hold  of  it  in  a  minute." 


266        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

But  evidently  the  chief  did  not  dare  to  let  go 
the  goat's  horns,  lest  he  should  be  caught  before 
he  had  the  revolver,  and  two  or  three  minutes 
elapsed  before  the  welcome  sound  of  a  shot  came 
to  the  boy's  ears. 

Then  Roger,  looking  up,  was  relieved  beyond 
measure  to  see  Rivers  appear  at  the  edge  of  the 
boulder  mopping  his  forehead. 

11  Guess  I'll  throw  him  down,"  he  said.  "  Of 
course  we  can't  load  ourselves  down  with  the  head, 
but  the  cook  may  want  a  steak  or  two,"  and  suit 
ing  the  action  to  the  word,  he  dragged  the  animal 
to  the  side  and  flung  him  over.  The  boy  noted 
immediately  that  the  bullet  had  entered  behind  the 
ear  and  under  the  roots  of  the  horns,  so  that  the 
combat  had  been  settled  then  and  there. 

The  goat  having  been  disposed  of,  Rivers  made 
arrangements  to  come  down,  in  the  same  way  as 
he  had  gone  up,  by  standing  on  the  boy's  shoul 
ders,  and  both  were  glad  when  the  chief  reached 
the  ground. 

"  That  was  nearly  as  good  as  a  bull-fight,"  re 
marked  the  elder  man  when  he  had  descended, 
"  and  it's  about  all  the  wrestle  I  want.  I  wish  it 
had  been  Bulson,  though;  he  would  have  given  that 
pesky  animal  all  the  scrapping  he  looked  for.  But 


A  MOUNTAIN  GOAT  267 

that  gun  of  yours  came  in  very  handily,  Doughty. 
I  guess  we'd  have  been  up  there  until  night  if  it 
hadn't  been  for  that." 

"  I  was  wondering,"  said  the  boy,  "  how  you 
were  going  to  pick  it  up,  after  I  did  throw  it  to 
you." 

"  So  was  I,"  replied  the  chief,  "  but  I  knew  I 
had  to  risk  it,  so  when  the  right  time  came  I  let 
go  with  one  hand  and  reached  for  the  gun  with 
the  other.  That  old  goat  was  almost  too  quick 
for  me,  though,  for  he  turned  in  my  grasp  and 
was  just  gathering  his  muscles  for  a  butt  when  I 
let  him  have  it  right  behind  the  ear. ' ' 

"  It  was  a  nasty  encounter,  all  right,"  said 
Eoger,  shaking  his  head,  "  but  you're  not  hurt  in 
any  way,  are  you,  Mr.  Rivers?  ' 

' '  Only  in  my  feelings, "  was  the  reply. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

BREAKING   THE   ICE   JAM 

ROGER  speedily  realized  the  wisdom  shown  by 
Rivers  in  forcing  the  march  through  the  entire 
first  part  of  the  trip,  for  whereas  the  weather  had 
been  favorable,  two  days  after  the  argument  with 
the  mountain  goat,  the  sky,  which  had  been  dark 
and  gray  for  days,  suddenly  seemed  to  drop  to 
within  a  few  hundred  feet  of  the  heads  of  the 
travelers,  and  a  tinge  of  slaty  blue  came  into  the 
over-hanging  masses.  A  hollow  booming  sound 
filled  the  air,  and  the  Alaskan  old-timers  hastened 
to  make  everything  fast,  laying  provision  close  to 
hand  and  insuring  all  the  outfit  against  the  coming 
storm. 

All  through  the  day  the  clouds  hung  so  low  that 
it  seemed  to  Roger  that  he  could  touch  them,  and 
the  stillness  and  silence  became  painful ;  it  was  so 
quiet  that  the  weight  grew  oppressive,  yet  speech 
or  sound  of  any  kind  grated  on  the  nerves. 

Throughout  the  entire  day  Rivers  scanned  the  sky 

268 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM        269 

closely,  and  the  afternoon  was  well  advanced  when 
he  called  out  suddenly: 

"  It'll  be  a  little  east  of  northeast!  "  and 
pointed  to  the  direction. 

Eoger's  gaze  followed  and  turning,  he  saw  a 
little  swirl  of  the  clouds.  Then,  as  though  some 
gigantic  hand  had  suddenly  unclenched  and 
pointed  an  accusing  finger  at  the  little  group  that 
had  defiantly  dared  the  dangers  of  its  domain,  a 
spume  of  snow  was  whipped  from  the  gray  above, 
and  with  a  shriek  whose  vindictiveness  seemed  al 
most  personal  the  tempest  struck. 

"  Get  under,  Doughty,"  called  Rivers,  who, 
standing  in  the  lee  of  one  of  the  small  trees,  was 
closely  watching  the  nature  of  the  storm,  "  get 
into  the  tent!  " 

But  Roger  did  not  want  to  miss  the  sight  of 
his  first  big  gale  in  the  northern  mountains,  so 
risking  a  reproval  for  not  obeying,  he  crawled 
along  the  ground  against  the  wind  to  where 
Rivers  stood. 

"  I  never  saw  a  real  blizzard  before,"  he 
shouted  in  his  chief's  ear,  as  an  excuse  for  his 
presence. 

The  older  man  smiled  grimly,  but  seeing  that 
there  was  as  yet  no  danger,  permitted  the  boy  to 


270        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

remain.  He  pointed,  however,  to  the  peak  above 
them,  which  sheltered  the  camp  from  the  full  fury 
of  the  storm. 

"  How  would  you  like  to  stand  up  there  and 
watch  it?  "  he  shouted  back. 

Roger's  reckless  spirit  prompted  him  to  reply 
that  he  wouldn't  mind,  but  before  he  could  formu 
late  the  words  a  sudden  gust  tore  up  a  large  tree 
whose  roots  had  been  too  near  the  edge  of  a  preci 
pice  and  sent  it  thundering  down  into  the  chasm 
below. 

"I'd  like  to,"  he  yelled,  "  but  I  guess  I'd  have 
to  be  chained  down. ' ' 

Then  one  blast,  stronger  than  any  that  had  come 
before,  eddied  back  from  the  cliff  and  struck 
Roger  full  in  the  face  just  as  he  had  stepped  for 
ward  to  reply  to  Rivers.  Some  instinct  led  him 
to  throw  both  hands  over  his  face,  which,  leaving 
him  at  the  mercy  of  the  wind,  caused  him  to  be 
knocked  flat  like  a  ninepin,  with  the  same  feeling 
as  though  he  had  been  struck  by  a  solid  object. 
But  it  was  the  last  impulse  of  the  squall,  and  be 
fore  Roger  had  arisen  to  his  feet,  the  white  glint 
at  the  point  where  the  gale  had  been  born  had 
disappeared,  the  clouds  fell  together,  and  quietly 
and  without  hurry  the  snow  began  to  fall. 


Photograph  by  U.S.G.S. 

\VIIKRE  AX  ETERNAL,  GAT.E  RAGES. 

On  the  topmost  crests  of  the  Alaskan  Mountains.     Working1 
out  fine  calculations  in  an  icy  storm. 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM       271 

"  Not  hurt,  I  suppose?  "  queried  Rivers  as 
Roger  scrambled  to  his  feet. 

"  Not  a  bit,"  said  Roger  breathlessly,  "  but  it 
seems  like  a  week  and  a  half  since  I  got  my  wind. ' ' 

"  But  why  did  you  let  go?  " 

' '  I  don 't  know,  Mr.  Rivers ;  it  felt  as  though 
some  one  was  going  to  hit  me  in  the  face,  and  I 
just  threw  up  my  hands  to  defend  myself. ' ' 

"  A  man's  got  to  be  a  pretty  good  prize-fighter 
who  will  go  in  the  ring  with  an  Alaskan  blizzard," 
said  the  geologist,  amusedly,  "  and  the  worst  of 
it  for  you  is  that  all  your  wounds  are  in  the  back. 
I  should  think  you  would  have  a  few  bruises  in  the 
morning,  for  you  went  down  like  a  Jack-in-the-Box 
goes  up." 

The  snow  was  falling  steadily  and  heavily  as 
the  two  walked  back  to  the  tent,  and  Roger  re 
marked  : 

"  This  will  make  the  trails  heavy  going,  won't 
it?  " 

"  It  looks  to  me,"  replied  the  other,  "  as  though 
it  would  make  all  travel  impossible.  If  this  storm 
had  struck  a  few  days  earlier,  or  had  we  been  a 
few  days  later  in  getting  here,  the  chances  are 
that  the  delay  would  have  been  considerable." 

"  How  much,  do  you  suppose?  "  asked  the  boy. 


272        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

The  leader  of  the  party  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  If  it  should  prove  a  heavy  snowfall, ' '  he  said, 
"  and  had  it  struck  us  on  the  Sushitna,  it  might 
have  gone  far  to  spoil  the  entire  season's  work. 
You  see  a  snowfall  of  four  or  five  inches  on  the 
level  can  be  whipped  up  into  drifts  fifteen  and 
twenty  feet  in  height,  not  only  hiding  the  trail,  but 
making  conditions  through  which  the  dogs  cannot 
flounder  until  a  crust  is  formed. 

"  Then  you  see,  Doughty,  it's  getting  late  for  a 
good  snow-crust,  and  we  might  have  had  to  wait 
down  there  until  the  break-up.  Then,  instead  of 
going  on  down  the  Jack  Eiver  as  we  shall  be  able 
to  do  now,  we  would  have  had  to  track  our  way  up 
Indian  Creek  against  all  the  force  of  the  spring 
floods,  portage  across  the  pass  with  the  ground 
in  bad  condition,  and  then  find  little  water  in  the 
Jack  River  instead  of  reaching  here  comfortably 
by  '  mushing.'  " 

"  It's  lucky  then,"  said  Eoger,  "  that  we're 
not  later  in  getting  here. ' ' 

11  It's  not,"  objected  Rivers.  "  It  may  be 
lucky  that  the  storm  didn't  strike  earlier,  but  it 
isn't  luck  that  brought  us  to  this  place  in  so  much 
shorter  time  than  had  been  allotted.  That  wasn't 
luck,  that  was  work.  I've  noticed,  too,  that  luck 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM        273 

and  labor  go  together  oftener  than  luck  and 
loafing. ' ' 

On  reaching  the  tent  they  found  everything 
snuggled  down  for  winter  quarters,  and  Roger 
was  subjected  to  some  mild  chaffing  over  what 
Magee  called  his  "  one  round  bout  with  a  gale," 
but  the  lad  took  it  good-naturedly  enough,  knowing 
from  previous  experience  that  his  turn  might 
come.  He  promised  himself,  however,  that  before 
the  trip  was  over  he  would  notice  some  slight  mis 
adventure  on  the  part  of  others  which  would  en 
able  him  to  return  the  compliment  of  banter. 

But  while  Roger  had  been  out  when  the  snow 
started  and  had  seen  the  dense  clouds  and  felt  the 
weight  behind  them,  he  was  not  prepared  to  see, 
the  following  morning,  a  sheet  of  snow  several 
inches  deep  over  the  entire  landscape.  Other 
members  of  the  party  had  been  up  during  the 
night,  but  the  boy  had  not  wakened,  and  when, 
stepping  outside  the  tent,  his  foot  sank  in  soft 
snow  halfway  to  his  knee,  his  amaze  was  great. 
Twelve  and  a  half  inches  of  snow  had  fallen  in 
the  single  night,  and  the  bright  May  sun  shining 
over  the  glittering  expanse  made  necessary  the 
snow  glasses  with  which  each  member  of  the  party 
was  hastily  equipped. 


274        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  I  should  not  like  to  be  without  glasses  to 
day,  ' '  said  the  boy  to  Gersup,  as  they  stood  by  the 
door  of  the  tent. 

"  There  would  be  fewer  skeletons  on  the 
Alaskan  hillsides,"  replied  the  other,  "  had  it  not 
been  for  the  madness  caused  by  the  intense  pain 
of  snow-glare  on  the  eyes." 

"  Is  it  so  acute?  " 

"  It  is  torture  unendurable,  because  any  light, 
no  matter  how  faint,  aggravates  it,  and  it  is  not 
possible  to  live  without  light.  Don't  make  any 
mistake,  snow-blindness  is  an  awful  thing." 

This  gave  Roger  pause,  for  he  saw  at  once  how 
many  fatal  errors  he  had  been  saved  by  being 
connected  with  a  party  wherein  all  the  details  of 
travel  had  been  so  carefully  arranged,  and  all  sorts 
of  contingencies,  which  would  have  been  unfore 
seen  to  him,  provided  against.  He  had  been  inly 
contemptuous  of  the  smoked  glasses,  when  a  pair 
had  been  given  him  at  the  beginning  of  the  trip, 
but  now  he  realized  their  immense  importance,  for 
by  this  time  the  May  sun  had  begun  to  make  itself 
felt  with  intense  heat  and  the  days  grew  long. 

It  seemed  as  though  the  snowstorm  had  been 
the  last  effort  of  winter,  a  sample  to  show  what  it 
could  do  if  necessary,  a  comparison  against  the 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM        275 

heat  of  the  summer  days  to  come.  The  rays  of 
the  sun  soon  honeycombed  the  snow  and  Roger 
realized  how  rotten  it  had  become  and  saw  that 
Rivers 's  thankfulness  that  they  did  not  have  to 
travel  over  it  was  well  founded.  Keenly  alive  to 
the  interests  of  the  expedition,  and  not  having 
learned  the  patience  of  later  life,  he  chafed  a  good 
deal  under  the  delay  and  was  continually  asking 
the  chief  when  they  should  start. 

"  Doughty,"  said  the  chief  to  him  on  one  of 
these  occasions,  when  the  boy's  restlessness  was 
intense,  "  you  can't  expend  energy  until  you  have 
accumulated  it.  Now  in  worrying  and  fretting 
over  not  being  able  to  start  you  are  expending 
energy  at  a  time  when,  as  far  as  possible,  you 
should  be  gathering  your  strength  for  the  time 
when  you  will  need  it.  And,  what's  more,  every 
one  reckons  on  losing  a  couple  of  weeks  during 
the  break-up ;  that  is  a  part  of  the  consumption  of 
time  on  the  trip." 

But  the  rapid  advance  of  spring  added  a  new 
source  of  surprise  to  the  lad.  From  the  stillness 
and  silence  of  the  days  when  they  first  made  camp 
at  the  head  of  the  pass,  the  air  became  filled  with 
the  myriad  voices  of  life,  and  the  primal  solitude 
became  vibrant  with  tiny  songsters.  The  golden 


276        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

sparrow  was  there  with  his  piercing  plaint,  made 
musical  by  distance,  and  the  trilling  warble  of 
Townsend's  fox  sparrow,  and  the  varied  strain  of 
the  hermit  thrush,  seemed  quite  homelike.  Be 
fore  the  snow  was  gone  the  rosy  finch  was  to  be 
seen,  his  quick  flight  giving  a  gay  spot  of  color 
to  the  landscape,  and  that  the  more  utilitarian 
side  might  not  be  omitted,  the  snowy  ptarmigan 
formed  a  welcome  addition  to  the  larder  of  the 
camp. 

Quite  a  torrent  was  beginning  to  flow  over  the 
ice  in  the  Jack  River,  and  on  the  morning  of  May 
16th,  when  Eoger  had  gone  out  with  Gersup  the 
topographer,  to  map  out  with  greater  detail  a 
little  piece  of  country  which  had  been  passed  by 
on  a  previous  expedition,  he  saw  that  the  center  of 
the  ice  in  the  river  was  bulging  up  like  a  hog- 
backed  bridge. 

'  *  What  makes  it  bulge  that  way  ? ' '  asked  the 
boy. 

1  *  You  should  have  been  able  to  figure  that  out, ' ' 
was  the  response.  "  When  the  ice  thaws  it  in 
creases  the  volume  of  water  under  the  ice.  The 
edges  are  frozen  solid  to  the  land,  the  middle  is 
more  or  less  elastic,  and  so  of  course  the  sides  stay 
solid  and  the  middle  heaves  up.  In  warmer  cli- 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM        277 

mates,  it  is  the  edge  that  thaws  out  first,  but  up 
here  the  rivers,  strictly  speaking,  do  not  thaw 
free,  the  ice  is  forced  from  them  by  the  spring 
floods.  It  is  strictly  a  break-up  rather  than  a 
thaw,  although  it  gets  warm  thereafter  very 
rapidly. ' ' 

"  It  certainly  does,"  replied  Eoger,  mopping 
his  forehead.  "  It's  hot  enough  now,  and  this  is 
only  the  middle  of  May;  while  two  weeks  ago  it 
was  snowing  like  Billy  0." 

On  May  18th  the  ice  broke,  moved  down  about 
a  mile  and  jammed,  and  a  few  hours  later  broke 
again,  finally  clearing  from  the  upper  reaches  of 
the  Jack  Eiver  on  the  19th.  Eivers  was  delighted 
at  the  opportunity  to  get  out  so  soon,  as  he  had 
feared  it  might  be  as  late  as  the  first  week  in 
June  before  he  could  get  away. 

"  I  think,  Doughty,"  he  said  to  Eoger,  "  that 
we  can  count  easily  now  on  accomplishing  what 
we  set  out  to  do,  and  probably  get  into  the  Arctic 
Ocean  in  good  time  for  an  early  return." 

"  That  is,  barring  accidents,"  put  in  the 
topographer. 

"  We  will  make  up  our  minds  not  to  have  any," 
replied  the  chief  of  the  party. 

The  following  morning,  therefore,  the  canoes 


278        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

being  all  packed,  the  party  bade  good-by  to  the 
little  camp  on  Broad  Pass,  where  they  had  spent 
so  many  quiet,  uneventful  days,  and  plunged  into 
the  grinding  forced  march  that  was  to  occupy 
every  waking  moment  for  so  many  months  to 
come.  The  stern  reality  of  Alaskan  work  became 
potent  to  Roger  before  they  had  been  half  an 
hour  on  the  trail.  The  Jack  Eiver,  though  swol 
len  by  the  spring  currents,  had  worn  an  erratic 
bed,  and  was  filled  with  bars  on  which  the  canoes 
stranded.  Then  there  was  nought  to  do  but  wade 
into  the  snow-fed  stream,  with  large  chunks  of 
ice  roaring  down  at  him,  and  the  chill  of  the 
water  such  as  to  make  the  boy  gasp  and  turn 
everything  black  before  his  eyes,  white  his  legs 
became  numb  and  hurt  cruelly.  But  he  gritted 
his  teeth  and  buckled  to  it,  well  aware  that  the 
other  members  of  the  party  were  watching  him, 
awaiting  a  sign  of  weakening. 

The  entire  morning  was  spent  wading,  help 
ing  the  canoes  over  a  series  of  small  bars  with 
a  fairly  steep  gradient,  but  the  work  was  slow, 
and  Rivers  seized  eagerly  any  chance  to  increase 
the  pace.  Shortly  after  the  midday  halt,  a  reach 
fairly  free  from  obstacles  presented  itself,  and 
the  party  climbed  into  the  boats  and  shot  down 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM       279 

the  stream.  Although  Roger  had  not  done  any 
canoe  work  since  he  had  been  on  the  Survey,  he 
was  brought  up  beside  a  stream  and  had  handled 
a  paddle  nearly  all  his  life,  and  his  delight  was 
great  when  he  found  that  he  had  not  lost  the 
knack.  Not  only  was  he  quite  at  home  in  a  few 
moments,  but  he  found  that  his  toughness  and 
maturer  strength  told  in  every  stroke.  Harry, 
the  Indian,  who  was  in  the  stern,  nodded  approv 
ingly,  after  ten  minutes'  work. 

"  Heap  nice,"  he  said,  as  he  found  how  keenly 
the  boy  judged  the  weight  of  the  stern  paddle 
and  followed  his  intentions;  "  light  weight  and 
good  paddle,  go  through  rapids  all  right,  sure. ' ' 

And  Eivers,  who  had  kept  a  close  eye  on  the 
boy,  gave  a  snort  of  satisfaction. 

"  I  guess  you  did  learn  what  I  bade  you,"  he 
said,  referring  to  their  conversation  in  Washing 
ton  a  year  before;  "  I  think  I  told  you  that  you 
should  know  how  to  handle  a  canoe." 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Eivers,"  said  Roger,  smiling  at  the 
remembrance,  "  but  you  implied  that  the  Alaskan 
streams  were  a  whole  lot  worse  than  Niagara." 

"  You  won't  complain  of  their  not  being  bad 
enough,  before  long, ' '  said  the  chief  grimly, ' '  and 
from  the  general  look  of  the  place  right  now, 


280        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

I  think  we  are  going  to  run  into  rough 
water. ' ' 

The  warning  served  to  sharpen  the  boy's  wits, 
and  it  was  time.  The  river  was  rushing  about 
ten  miles  an  hour  over  a  winding  bed,  where  the 
bow  could  not  see  ahead  for  more  than  twenty  or 
thirty  yards,  a  space  covered  in  a  few  seconds' 
time.  Suddenly  Harry  gave  a  mighty  back 
stroke,  and  Roger  following  suit  almost  instan 
taneously,  the  canoe  was  brought  up  with  a  jerk 
as  though  some  mechanical  brakes  had  been  set. 
There  was  not  much  room  to  spare,  for  across 
the  river  a  big  tree  had  fallen,  and  behind  it  the 
ice  had  jammed,  not  enough  to  dam  the  water 
absolutely,  but  affording  no  possible  passage  for 
a  canoe. 

A  landing  was  made,  though  it  was  extremely 
difficult,  and  the  canoes  portaged  past  the  ob 
struction,  Eivers  having  found  that  the  tree  had 
jammed  on  a  harsh  and  shallow  rapid,  over  which 
they  could  not  have  taken  the  boats.  Then  the 
chief  ordered  two  of  the  men  to  cut  through  the 
jammed  tree  so  as  to  break  the  dam. 

11  Why?  "  queried  Roger  of  Bulson,  as  he  was 
cutting  and  shaping  a  gigantic  wooden  crowbar 
for  himself,  while  a  couple  of  the  other  men  were 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM        281 

hacking  through  the  tree;  "  why  is  it  necessary 
to  take  all  that  trouble  after  we  have  got 
by?  " 

11  Supposing  we  got  some  distance  down  the 
river,"  was  the  reply,  "  where  it  wasn't  easy  to 
make  a  landing,  and  this  jam  broke  above  us  and 
came  pounding  down  the  river,  where  would  we 
be?  " 

"  But  it  wouldn't  be  going  any  faster  than  the 
stream,  and  we  could  keep  ahead  of  it  with 
paddles." 

"  And  if  you  came  to  a  portage?  ' 

11  That's  true,"  said  Roger,  "  I  hadn't  thought 
of  that.  We  might  get  nipped  between  the  ice 
behind  and  rocks  in  front." 

"  You  see,"  said  Bulson,  as  he  stepped  on  to 
the  jam,  "  it's  never  wise  to  leave  dangers  at 
your  heels." 

The  tree  having  been  cut  through,  all  save  a 
few  inches,  one  of  the  choppers  returned  to  the 
shore,  while  the  other  stood  ready,  watching  Bul 
son.  The  latter,  who  was  standing  on  the  blocks 
of  ice  behind  the  tree,  was  studying  their  posi 
tions,  how  they  were  jammed,  and  what  was  the 
best  way  to  free  them  without  getting  caught 
himself  in  the  resultant  turmoil. 


282        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Presently  he  seemed  satisfied  for,  inserting  his 
huge  crowbar  between  two  pieces  of  ice,  he  yelled : 

"  Cut!  " 

The  axman  brought  down  his  blade  with  his  full 
strength  three  times,  and  the  fibers  of  the  tree 
cracked  and  began  to  give  way.  Back  over  the 
slowly  moving  tree  came  Magee,  leaving  Bulson 
alone  on  the  jam.  Suddenly  the  tree  parted  with 
a  sharp  crack  and  as  it  did  so  there  arose  a 
grinding  roar,  and  the  blocks  of  ice  which  had  been 
jammed  behind  the  tree  seemed  to  leap  up  and 
fling  themselves  over  the  rapid.  It  did  not  seem 
possible  that  any  man  could  ride  that  furious 
clashing  of  the  jam,  but  Eoger  noticed  that 
Bulson,  making  his  way  to  shore  over  the  grind 
ing  ice,  yet  had  coolness  to  stop  and  give  a  shove 
here  and  a  heave  there,  unlocking  the  jam,  as  it 
were,  until,  standing  on  the  ice  nearest  the  shore, 
he  gave  one  last  mighty  shove  and  sprang  to  the 
bank  just  as  with  a  seeming  disappointed  roar 
the  whole  jam  broke  and  sped  down  the  foaming 
river. 

11  That,  Mr.  Kivers,"  said  the  boy,  as  Bulson 
quietly  threw  his  impromptu  crowbar  into  the 
river,  "  is  one  of  the  things  I  did  not  learn  to 
do." 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM       283 

"  Bulson's  very  good  at  that  sort  of  thing," 
was  the  chief's  quiet  comment. 

But  the  river  below  the  jam  was  far  less  kind 
to  the  travelers  than  it  had  been  above.  Progress 
was  only  possible  by  careful  paddling  and  short 
portages.  Half  the  time  was  spent  in  the  icy 
water  and  half  on  the  frozen  bank,  and  though 
the  water  was  cold  beyond  belief,  and  hands  and 
feet  were  heavy  and  numb,  the  sun  burned  fiercely 
upon  head  and  shoulders  as  though  it  were  the 
height  of  midsummer,  a  condition  the  harder  to 
be  borne  because  it  was  so  early  in  the  sea 
son  that  no  one  was  as  yet  acclimatized  to  the 
heat. 

It  was  the  most  fatiguing  day  Roger  had  yet 
spent  on  the  Survey,  not  even  excepting  the  fa 
mous  trip  across  the  Grand  Canyon,  for  in  the 
latter  the  pace  had  been  his  own,  while  in  this 
he  had  to  play  an  equal  part  with  exceptionally 
vigorous  and  seasoned  men,  coping  with  a  moun 
tain  torrent.  The  dusk  was  falling  as,  once  more 
in  boats,  and  passing  through  a  small  gorge,  the 
party  reached  the  confluence  of  the  Jack  and  Cant- 
well  Eivers.  Although  the  distance  traversed 
had  been  but  twenty-eight  miles,  and  the  party 
had  been  traveling  with  the  current,  so  arduous 


284        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

and  rough  had  been  the  way  that  eleven  hours  had 
been  spent  in  making  the  journey. 

After  supper  Rivers  came  to  Roger  and  said 
to  him,  not  with  criticism,  but  in  a  kindly  manner : 

"  Are  you  tired,  Doughty?  ' 

The  boy  would  have  longed  to  be  able  to  reply 
"  No,"  but  he  knew  he  could  not  do  so  with 
any  pretense  at  honesty,  and  so  he  replied 
fairly : 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Rivers,  I  am  a  little  tired,  but  I'll 
soon  get  toughened  up." 

"  Well,"  said  the  chief  of  the  party,  "  I  just 
wanted  to  let  you  know  that  this  really  has  been 
a  hard  day,  and  that  no  one  need  be  ashamed  of 
feeling  tired.  We  are  all  conscious  of  having 
done  a  day's  work.  I  thought  perhaps  you  might 
worry  a  little  at  the  thought  that,  if  it  was  to  be 
all  like  this,  you  would  not  be  able  to  keep  up. 
But  it  won't,  and  you  did  well." 

So  Roger  lay  down  to  sleep  and  tucked  him 
self  in  his  sleeping  bag  with  absolute  happiness. 
The  next  day  proved  to  the  boy  how  right  the 
chief  had  been.  For  the  first  forty  miles  of  its 
passage  the  boy  found  the  Cantwell  River,  into 
which  they  had  run,  to  have  a  fair  channel  and 
good  banks;  and  of  course,  at  this  season  of  the 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM        285 

year  it  was  full  to  overflowing,  so  that  the  only 
difficulty  of  its  upper  reaches,  shoals,  was  set 
aside  by  the  volume  of  water  in  the  stream.  That 
day's  trip  was  rapid  and  easy.  Camp  was  made 
that  night  beside  the  river,  just  where  another 
tributary  called  the  Yanert  joins,  leaping  a 
twenty-foot  fall  just  before  reaching  the  main 
stream. 

The  turbulent  manner  of  the  Yanert 's  union, 
however,  was  an  augury  of  trouble.  It  seemed 
as  though  the  larger  river  had  been  led  into  bad 
habits  by  the  new  arrival,  for  it  became  a  wild 
scramble  of  water,  rushing  through  the  canyons 
and  gorges  of  the  Alaskan  Range  with  terrifying 
speed.  Two  or  three  nasty  rapids  had  been  shot, 
in  each  of  which  Roger  acquitted  himself  very 
creditably,  but  the  water  had  grown  rougher  and 
harder  to  deal  with  at  each  successive  step,  so 
that  when  a  short  beach  a  few  miles  long  closed 
in  a  harsh  and  ragged-edged  canyon,  Eivers  called 
a  halt  and  went  forward  to  reconnoiter  from  the 
summit  of  the  gorge  whether  it  were  safe  for  pas 
sage.  Taking  Eoger  and  Magee  with  him,  he  fol 
lowed  the  west  bank  of  the  river,  sending  Gersup, 
Bulson,  and  Harry,  along  the  other  bank  to  de 
termine  the  possibility  of  the  rapid  below,  and 


286        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

also  to  find  out  which  was  the  better  side  for  a 
portage,  should  that  be  deemed  necessary. 

To  Roger's  uninitiated  eye,  the  water  below 
seemed  a  seething  witches'  caldron  of  confusion, 
but  he  could  see  that  the  chief  did  not  regard  it 
as  being  impossible.  Suddenly  the  geologist 
turned  to  him : 

"  Doughty,"  he  said,  "  do  you  think  you  could 
run  that  rapid?  " 

"  If  you  told  me  to,"  answered  the  boy 
sturdily. 

' '  You  mean  that  you  would  try  to  do  it,  whether 
you  thought  it  possible  or  no,  if  I  told  you?  ' 

"  No,"  said  Roger,  "  that  would  be  unreason 
able.  What  I  mean  is  that  if  you  told  me  to  go 
it  would  be  possible,  and  if  it  is  possible  I  am 
quite  ready  to  try  it  at  any  time." 

The  older  man  said  no  more,  but  tried  to  force 
his  way  along  the  dense  growth  by  the  gorge's 
edge.  The  underbrush  was  very  thick,  and  if  a 
portage  was  to  be  made  on  that  side  the  road 
would  have  to  be  cut  almost  the  entire  distance. 
So  the  three  turned  back  to  the  canoes  and  waited 
the  return  of  the  topographer. 

"  Well?  "  inquired  the  chief  as  the  party  hove 
in  view. 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM        287 

"  I  shouldn't  care  to  tackle  it,"  said  Gersup, 
"  but  Harry  says  he  can  take  the  boats  through, 
but  not  loaded.  They  would  have  to  go  down 
light  and  the  loads  portaged.  There  is  a  fair 
carry  on  that  side,  but  it's  through  small  trees 
pretty  close  together,  and  the  canoes  would  be 
awkward  to  take  through.  It's  about  a  twelve- 
mile  portage,  too,  as  I  should  judge,  before  we 
can  strike  a  place  where  the  boats  could  land." 

"  That's  just  about  what  I  expected  you  to 
say,"  commented  the  geologist.  "  I  thought  so, 
too,  but  there's  a  bad  carry  on  this  side.  Well, 
I  suppose  Harry  and  Bulson  had  better  take  the 
boats  through." 

But  when  the  canoeists  were  approached  Bul 
son  shook  his  head. 

"  Of  course,  if  you  say  so,  Mr.  Eivers,"  he  re 
plied,  "  there's  no  more  to  be  said,  but  as  I  un 
derstand  it,  the  boats  have  got  to  go  through 
light.  Now  I  tip  the  scale  at  a  trifle  over  two 
hundred  and  twenty  pounds,  and  you  couldn't 
very  well  call  that  light.  Besides,  if  it  comes  to 
a  portage,  I  can  carry  a  whole  lot  more  than  any 
one  else  could  do.  If  I  might  suggest " 

"  Go  ahead,  man,"  said  Eivers  impatiently. 

"  Send  the  boy,  then.    He  knows  just  as  much 


288        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

about  a  canoe  as  I  do  and  he's  seventy-five  pounds 
lighter.  That's  an  awful  difference  in  the  bow  of 
a  canoe.  Then,  too,  he  isn't  as  hefty  for  the  carry. 
I  think  you'd  better  let  Harry  and  the  boy  try  it." 

"  But  it's  a  man's  job.  What  do  you  think, 
Harry — because,  after  all,  you  will  lead  the  way?  ' 

"  Bulson  heap  good  in  canoe.  Boy  all  right. 
Boy  light,  man  heavy,  take  boy. ' ' 

"  You  think  you  can  take  the  boat  through  all 
right?  "  The  Indian  nodded.  "I'd  like  to  go 
with  you  myself,  but  I'm  nearly  as  heavy  as  Bul 
son.  All  right,  then,  let  it  go  that  way;  it's  only 
a  chance,  but  we'd  better  try  it  with  one  boat, 
rather  than  spend  a  week  or  two  cutting  a  twelve- 
mile  road  through  the  timber  for  the  boats." 

Orders  having  been  given  for  the  unpacking  of 
the  canoes,  an  early  stop  was  made,  and  Harry 
went  off  with  Bulson  to  con  the  rapid  from  the 
other  bank.  He  did  not  come  back  till  after  dark, 
and  then,  simply  saying  to  Rivers : 

"  Sure,  can  do  it  all  right,"  he  tumbled  off  to 
the  tent  and  rolled  up  for  the  night. 

The  chief  of  the  party  then  turned  to  Roger,  and 
said  kindly: 

"  I  don't  want  you  to  do  this,  Doughty,  unless 
you  feel  quite  up  to  it,  because  confidence  Is  one 


BREAKING  THE  ICE  JAM        289 

of  the  most  important  things  needed.  However, 
I  have  great  faith  in  Harry's  knowledge  of  rapids, 
and  if  he  says  they  are  passable  I  don't  think 
there  is  any  cause  to  fear.  But  if  you  are  in  the 
least  afraid  of  it,  don't  hesitate  to  say  so." 

"  I'd  be  afraid  to  tackle  it  alone,  Mr.  Rivers," 
the  boy  said  truthfully,  "  but  I  feel  that  with 
Harry  in  the  stern  I  could  take  the  rapids  of 
Niagara,  and  the  whirlpool  into  the  bargain." 


CHAPTER  XV 

FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE 

EARLY  next  morning,  the  first  boat,  having  been 
stripped  of  everything  movable,  was  made  ready, 
and  Harry  got  in  the  stern.  He  had  taken  off  the 
more  cumbersome  of  his  clothing  and  had  bid 
den  Roger  do  the  same,  so  they  started  off  with 
only  enough  on  for  comfort,  but  wearing  their 
shoes,  for  the  return  journey  would  have  to  be 
overland  through  the  forest. 

"  This  heap  bad,"  said  Harry  as  they  started 
out,  "  but  I  in  plenty  worse.  Keep  eyes  open 
much. ' ' 

"  Right  you  are,  Harry,"  sung  out  Roger 
cheerily,  and  a  moment  later  the  canoe  shot  into 
the  mouth  of  the  canyon,  the  other  members  of 
the  party  watching  them  with  some  anxiety,  as, 
aside  from  the  question  of  danger,  the  loss  of  one 
of  the  boats  would  mean  a  great  deal  of  extra 
work  on  the  trip.  As  the  canoe  entered  the  can 
yon  Roger  could  feel  the  whole  frame  of  his  com 
panion  quiver  with  the  intensity  of  attention,  and 

290 


FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE  291 

he  heeded  every  move  of  the  canoe  so  closely 
that  he  felt  as  though  he  knew  before  every 
movement  of  the  stern  paddle  just  in  what  direc 
tion  it  would  be,  and  of  what  weight. 

The  boy  had  learned  well  the  lesson  of  follow 
ing  orders,  and  his  confidence  in  his  companion 
was  so  absolute  that  he  was  untroubled  in  mind, 
which  went  far  to  make  him  alert  and  able.  Sud 
denly,  the  boat  gave  a  little  jump  and  the  current 
leaped  to  double  its  speed,  and  for  two  hundred 
feet  they  rushed  down  a  smooth  plane  of  dark 
water  with  a  seethe  of  foam  awaiting  them  at  the 
bottom.  Just  as  they  reached  it,  Harry  shouted : 

"Now!"  and  bore  outward  with  all  his 
strength. 

"  Sure!"  came  Roger's  ready  answer,  as  he 
followed  the  action  almost  simultaneously,  but  his 
confidence  received  a  sudden  check  when  they 
plunged  into  blinding  foam  which  drove  across 
the  boat  so  that  the  Indian  could  hardly  discern 
the  lad  kneeling  in  the  bow.  Angry  little  cross- 
waves  leaped  at  them,  naked  scarps  of  rocks 
thrust  bared  fangs  at  them,  but  threading,  this 
way  and  that,  a  channel  of  almost  unbelievable 
intricacy  and  appalling  narrowness,  the  little  boat 
went  through. 


292        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

At  the  base  of  the  second  of  these,  in  a  moment 
of  comparatively  still  water,  the  Indian  called : 

"  Plenty  heap  good  paddle,"  he  said,  "  but  too 
much  beefsteak.  More  easy  stroke."  He  broke 
off  suddenly,  "  Ah!  " 

The  warning  was  needed,  for  the  vicious  spite 
of  this  rapid  began  at  its  very  mouth,  and  once 
the  boy  heard  Harry  grunt  as  he  put  his  whole 
strength  into  a  double  stroke  which,  Roger  could 
have  sworn,  made  the  frame  of  the  canoe  bend 
and  wriggle  like  a  snake.  There  followed  then 
a  greater  rapidity  of  current  again,  and  the  walls 
of  the  gorge  closed  in  until  it  seemed  to  the  boy 
that  if  they  got  any  nearer  the  boat  would  be 
shooting  through  a  tunnel,  and  the  prospect  of 
a  subterranean  tunnel  was  not  pleasant. 

Just  at  the  narrowest  part,  when  it  was  difficult 
sometimes  to  avoid  the  paddles  striking  the  rock 
on  the  side,  the  torrent  boiling  through  and  both 
men  backing  water,  the  canyon  took  a  sharp  turn 
to  the  right.  Harry  threw  her  head  round,  but 
not  far  enough,  for  there,  not  fifteen  feet  away 
from  the  angle  of  the  bend,  a  black  rock  rose  sheer 
from  the  water,  with  a  spur  sticking  out,  exactly 
like  the  spur  of  a  fighting  cock.  The  boat  could 
not  clear,  and  though  Eoger  got  the  bow  by,  the 


FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE  293 

current  crushed  the  side  of  the  canoe  against  the 
rock,  and  with  a  cry  the  Indian  leaped  for  the 
spur. 

' '  Jump !  "  he  yelled  to  Roger. 

But  Harry's  leap  from  the  stern  of  the  boat, 
just  as  she  crashed,  threw  the  canoe  off  sufficiently 
to  prevent  its  entire  demolition,  so,  though  the 
frail  craft  grazed  the  sharp  edge  of  the  rock  with 
the  speed  of  an  express  train,  crushing  in  its 
upper  part,  it  was  still  seaworthy.  Roger  noted 
that  the  Indian  had  not  reached  a  footing  on  the 
spur,  but  was  hanging  by  a  hand-hold  to  a  ledge 
which  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  climb. 

The  thought  passed  through  Roger's  mind  that 
Rivers  would  blame  himself  for  having  let  him 
go,  in  the  event  of  anything  happening,  but  there 
was  little  time  for  speculation.  From  the  bow 
he  could  see  the  dangers  that  were  before  him, 
but  not  being  in  the  stern,  the  canoe  was  hard  to 
paddle,  and  almost  as  in  a  desperate  nightmare, 
he  paddled  and  swerved  and  dodged  rocks  that 
sprang  at  him  out  of  the  water  as  though  they 
were  alive.  Though  his  heart  was  in  his  mouth, 
and  he  expected  every  moment  to  be  his  last,  the 
training  of  the  past  year  stood  him  in  good  stead, 
and  his  eye  never  wavered  nor  did  his  hand  be- 


294        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

come  unsteady  until,  five  minutes  later,  he  reached 
in  safety  the  gravel  flat  below  the  last  rapid. 

There  he  held  the  boat  to  regain  his  breath, 
and  found  time  to  wonder  whether  Harry  had 
managed  to  climb  on  the  spur,  and  if  he  had, 
how  the  party  would  be  able  to  release  him.  But 
scarcely  had  this  question  formulated  itself  in 
his  mind  than,  close  by  the  canoe,  two  hands  thrust 
themselves  out  of  the  water,  followed  by  a  shock 
of  coarse  black  hair,  and  with  one  side  of  his  head 
bleeding  profusely  from  a  scalp  wound  he  had 
received  on  his  way  down  the  rapid,  the  Indian 
made  his  way  to  the  boat.  Eoger  helped  him  in 
over  the  stern  and  they  paddled  to  the  shore. 

"  Heap  fine,"  he  commented,  "  thought  you 
gone  sure,  that  time. ' ' 

11  You  were  politer  than  I  was,"  replied  the 
boy,  laughing  with  a  catch  in  his  voice,  "  I  was 
too  busy  even  to  think  of  you  till  I  got  down  here." 
He  went  on  laughing,  but  harshly  and  with  a 
curious  clang  in  the  tones. 

The  Indian  looked  up  sharply. 

"  Stop,"  he  said,  "  you  no  laugh." 

Roger,  brought  to  a  pause  by  the  abrupt  com 
mand,  found  he  was  choking  over  his  laugh,  and 
that  his  nerves  were  badly  shaken.  He  felt  a 


FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE  295 

wild  desire  to  laugh  and  cry  alternately,  but  he 
gulped  down  a  few  times,  straightened  up  and 
looked  Harry  squarely  in  the  eye. 

"I'm  all  right  now,"  he  said. 

The  Indian  looked  back  over  the  rapid  down 
which  they  had  just  come,  and  shook  his  head. 

"  Well,  we  got  through  any  way,"  commented 
Eoger. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Harry  slowly,  "  but  we  heap 
near  not  get  through." 

"  Oh,  well,"  replied  the  boy  with  all  the  reck 
lessness  of  youth  concerning  a  danger  which  is 
past  and  over,  "  a  miss  is  as  good  as  a  mile,  any 
way. ' ' 

"  So,"  replied  the  Indian,  "  but  when  it  is  my 
scalp,"  pointing  to  his  head,  "  I  like  mile,  every 
time." 

This  drawing  attention  to  the  cut  on  Harry's 
head,  Roger  looked  at  it,  and  found  that  although 
it  had  bled  freely,  it  was  but  a  superficial  cut,  and 
would  afford  no  trouble,  at  least  until  they  got 
back  to  the  camp,  where  the  chief  would  see  that 
it  was  attended  to.  But  they  were  a  long  way 
from  the  camp,  as  the  two  speedily  found  when 
they  started  on  their  homeward  journey. 

The  trip  down  the  rapids,  Roger  found,  had 


296        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

taken  a  little  less  than  fifty  minutes,  and  he 
thought  that  perhaps  it  might  take  a  couple  of 
hours  for  them  to  make  their  way  home.  But 
even  Harry  underestimated  the  distance  that  they 
had  come,  and  the  way  back,  climbing  over  fallen 
trees,  scrambling  through  thickets,  stopped  by 
underbrush,  scratched  by  thorns,  and  caught  in 
brambles,  was  a  fearful  task,  and  it  was  eleven 
o'clock  at  night  before  they  got  into  camp,  hav 
ing  taken  fourteen  hours  to  come  back  the  twelve 
miles  they  had  done  in  the  canoe  in  fifty  minutes. 

They  found  the  camp  waiting  for  them,  and 
Rivers  growing  very  anxious  at  their  non-return. 
He  realized,  of  course,  that  the  rapid  might  have 
proved  far  longer  than  had  been  expected,  and 
that  the  two  would  have  some  difficulty  getting 
back,  but  there  was  a  fear  of  possibly  worse  con 
sequences.  The  cut  on  Harry's  head  revealed 
that  everything  had  not  gone  well,  and  the  Indian, 
nothing  loath,  told  in  his  short  and  jerky  way  the 
story  of  the  perilous  passage,  giving  the  boy  due 
credit  for  bringing  the  boat  through  the  last  few 
hundred  yards  of  the  rapids,  and  averring  that 
he  was  all  that  could  be  desired  as  a  comrade. 

Eoger's  exhaustion  from  the  long  tramp  back 
to  camp  was  such  that  the  chief  of  the  party  gave 


FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE  297 

orders  that  he  was  not  to  be  awakened  early,  and 
it  was  eight  o'clock  before  the  boy  rolled  over 
and  sleepily  opened  his  eyes  to  find  the  camp  work 
well  advanced  and  breakfast  over.  He  jumped  up 
hurriedly,  looking  for  the  various  members  of  the 
party,  but  found  only  Harry  and  the  cook  there. 

"  Why,  where's  the  crowd!  "  he  asked. 

"  Waal,  son,"  said  the  cook,  "  Mr.  Kivers  he 
reckoned  that  a  good  sleep  wouldn't  do  any  harm, 
seeing  the  job  you  tackled  yesterday,  and  you 
won't  have  much  to  do  to-day.  The  rest  of  them 
have  started  packing  the  grub  over  the  carry  to 
where  you  left  the  first  boat.  They're  loaded 
down  good  and  proper,  for  I  don't  believe  one  of 
'em  has  less  than  eighty  pounds,  and  Bulson's  got 
one  hundred  and  ten,  all  right. ' ' 

"  There's  a  lot  of  stuff  here  yet,"  commented 
Roger,  looking  around,  "  and  that's  no  small 
walk.  How  many  trips  do  you  suppose  it  will 
take  to  get  it  all  down  there!  ' 

11  Just  one  trip  more,  to-morrow.  You  see  on 
to-morrow's  trip  Harry  and  you  and  I  will  have  a 
load,  and  three  extra  men  can  tote  a  lot." 

"  But  why  were  we  let  out  of  it  to-day!  "  que 
ried  the  boy. 

' '  We  take  other  boat  down, ' '  put  in  the  Indian, 


298        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

who  had  been  listening,  * '  this  time  we  do  it  heap 
easy.  No  get  knocked  on  the  head. ' ' 

"  I  hope  not,  for  your  sake,"  said  Roger,  who, 
though  no  coward,  had  been  secretly  hoping  that 
some  one  else  would  look  after  the  other  boat. 
"  But  it's  quite  a  trick  to  have  to  tackle  again." 

"  No,"  replied  Harry,  with  a  quick  negative 
shake  of  the  head.  "  Heap  easy  now.  I  draw 
map  every  rock,  know  when  stop  canoe." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  cook  thoughtfully,  "  it  isn't 
much  of  a  job  to  run  a  rapid  when  you  know  what's 
ahead  of  you;  the  trouble  is  generally  that  some 
fool  rock  shows  up  when  you  least  expect  it." 

"  That's  true,"  said  the  boy  thoughtfully, 
' '  even  the  rock  we  nearly  went  to  smash  on, — the 
one  you  jumped,  you  know, — we  could  have  dodged 
that  if  we  had  known  that  it  was  there  and  had 
hugged  the  right-hand  shore." 

"  No  strike  rock  this  time.  You  no  want  try 
jump?  " 

"  Not  on  your  life,  Harry,"  laughed  Roger. 
"I'm  not  aching  for  excitement  as  much  as  that. 
Going  through  that  rapid  again  will  give  me 
enough  to  think  of  for  one  day,  at  least." 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  boat  having  been  got 
ready,  the  two  shoved  out  into  the  stream  and 


FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE  299 

headed  for  the  rapid.  As  the  other  men  had  sug 
gested,  the  passage  lost  some  of  its  terrors  when 
it  was  known  what  lay  beyond,  but  Roger  found 
that  his  companion  possessed  a  memory  for  every 
little  turn  of  the  river  which  was  to  him  in 
credible.  He  felt  that  he  would  have  to  go 
through  it  a  dozen  times  before  he  could  begin  to 
act  as  a  pilot  through,  but  Harry  had  the  whole 
stretch  of  boiling  water  as  clearly  in  his  mind 
as  though  an  immense  chart  were  stretched  out 
before  him. 

The  second  rapid  with  its  smother  of  foam, 
moreover,  looked  almost  as  bad  to  the  boy  on  the 
second  trial  as  it  had  on  the  first,  and  his  heart 
beat  more  rapidly  as  the  boat  shot  into  the  nar 
row  gorge,  in  the  midst  of  which,  a  little  lower 
down,  the  sharp  and  jagged  spur  lay  awaiting  the 
unready  traveler.  But  the  Indian  was  on  the 
alert,  and  just  at  the  right  moment  he  drove  the 
canoe  over  beside  the  bank,  so  close  that  Eoger 
feared  a  slight  eddy  might  crush  in  the  eggshell 
sides  of  the  canoe.  But  even  with  every  inch 
gained  at  the  turn,  the  old  black  spur  suddenly 
appeared  around  the  bend,  grim  and  perilous 
athwart  their  path.  Then  Harry  put  his  muscle 
into  the  paddle,  Eoger  following  suit,  and  they 


300        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

flew  across  the  river  with  such  speed  that  the  cur 
rent  driving  them  on  the  rock  had  little  chance  to 
catch  the  boat,  and  they  shaved  the  danger  with 
about  two  feet  to  spare.  The  rapid  beyond,  which 
Roger  had  run  himself,  was  none  too  easy, 
and  as  the  boy  noted  its  difficulty,  he  felt  a  thrill 
of  pride  that  he  had  managed  to  take  the  first 
boat  through  that  alone. 

11  Heap  bad  rapid,"  said  Harry,  when  the 
second  boat  had  been  drawn  up  beside  the  first, 
and  he  had  examined  both  the  canoes  carefully  to 
see  how  much  damage  they  had  sustained  on  the 
trip. 

'•  Have  you  ever  run  any  that  were  worse  than 
this?  "  queried  Eoger. 

"  No.  Plenty  longer,  rougher,  but  rock  in  mid 
dle  much  bad." 

Questioning  his  companion  Eoger  heard  many 
stories  of  difficult  and  dangerous  canoe  trips,  told 
with  the  unimpassioned  utterance  of  the  Indian, 
and  in  his  broken  English,  and  he  was  able  to 
see  that  the  canyon  through  which  they  had 
passed  was  almost  as  bad  as  any  of  them.  They 
did  not  have  to  wait  long  for  the  arrival  of  the 
party  from  the  upper  camp,  for  the  latter  had 
cut  the  trail  the  preceding  day,  while  Harry 


Photograph  by  U.S.G.S. 

A  SHORT  BUT  DANGEROUS  RAPID. 

In  tracking  canoes  to  save  time  of  portage,  great  skill  is 
needed  in  these  swirling  currents. 


FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE  301 

and  Roger  were  taking  the  first  boat  down 
and  returning,  so  that  when  they  started  the  next 
morning  before  breakfast,  it  was  fairly  good  go 
ing.  Shortly  before  noon,  the  canoeists,  waiting 
beside  the  boats,  heard  shouts  to  which  they  re 
sponded,  and  a  few  minutes  later  the  packing 
party  came  crashing  through  the  trees  to  the 
riverside. 

Harry,  without  waiting  for  any  conversation 
with  the  other  members  of  the  party,  busied  him 
self  in  getting  together  dinner,  knowing  that  the 
fellows,  who  had  toted  heavy  packs  over  the  carry, 
would  be  sufficiently  hungry  and  tired.  The  meal 
being  over,  the  whole  party,  including  Harry  and 
Roger,  started  back  for  the  camp,  and  the  boy 
was  surprised  to  find  how  short  and  easy  it 
seemed  after  the  difficulty  he  had  experienced  the 
day  before  in  forcing  his  way  through  the  bush, 
where  a  trail  had  not  been  cut.  They  reached 
the  camp  at  the  upper  end  of  the  canyon,  where 
the  cook  had  been  left,  late  in  the  afternoon  and 
made  all  ready  for  the  start  the  following  morning. 

The  next  day  the  entire  remainder  of  the  sup 
plies  and  equipment  of  the  camp  were  made  up 
into  packs  and  the  party  started  over  the  portage 
to  where  the  boats  had  been  left  lower  down  on 


302        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

the  river.  Roger,  being  accommodated  with  a 
pack  weighing  about  ninety  pounds,  felt  as  though 
he  were  back  in  the  Minnesota  swamps,  with  the 
tump  strap  over  his  forehead.  His  familiarity 
with  packing,  and  his  ability  to  take  the  trip  with 
out  feeling  any  physical  inconvenience,  was  a 
source  of  gratification,  as  Roger's  pride  was  keen 
not  to  be  thought  in  any  sense  a  less  able  mem 
ber  of  the  party  than  the  oldest  and  most  seasoned 
hand.  The  journey  down  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
canyon  did  not  seem  so  long,  and,  as  on  the  pre 
vious  day,  the  party  reached  the  lower  camp  about 
noon.  In  the  afternoon  Gersup  and  Bulson,  tak 
ing  Roger  with  them,  took  advantage  of  the  half 
day  to  make  a  survey  before  descending  into  the 
beaches  of  the  lower  Cantwell  River. 

As  it  was  expected  that  the  going  would  be 
easy  for  a  while  lower  in  the  stream,  Rivers  readily 
acceded  to  Roger's  petition  that  he  should  take 
his  rifle  along.  There  had  been  such  a  lot  of 
caribou  about,  that  the  boy  felt  he  ought  at  least 
to  get  one. 

11  We  haven't  space  for  the  head  as  a  trophy, 
of  course,  you  know,"  he  said,  "  and  I  don't  ap 
prove  of  shooting  for  sport,  but  caribou  is  good 
eating,  and  it  is  always  wise  to  conserve  supplies." 


FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE  303 

"  IVe  never  had  a  chance  at  any  big  game, 
before,  Mr.  Elvers,"  joyfully  said  the  boy. 

"  All  right,  then,"  said  the  chief,  smiling,  "  I 
guess  you  won't  reduce  the  visible  supply  of 
caribou  in  Alaska  enough  to  hurt." 

Immediately  after  dinner  the  three  started,  and 
Roger's  luck  was  with  him,  for  as  they  rounded 
the  corner  of  a  mountain  slope,  Gersup  halted, 
and  pointed  with  his  finger  to  four  specks  about 
three  miles  away.  Raising  his  field  glasses,  he 
said: 

"  There  you  are,  Doughty;  there  are  your  cari 
bou.  You've  worked  pretty  hard  and  ought 
to  have  some  fun  out  of  it.  We  can  get  along  all 
right,  and  you  go  after  them.  You  can't  very 
well  get  lost,  but  don't  try  to  track  them  after 
dark." 

Roger  nodded,  and  skirting  the  slope  until  he 
was  hidden  from  the  animals'  view,  he  started  on 
a  run  for  a  couple  of  miles,  until  he  thought  it 
would  be  necessary  to  exert  more  prudence.  A 
long  and  weary  progress  through  the  rough  coun 
try,  with  the  endeavor  not  so  much  as  to  crack 
a  twig  or  rustle  a  leaf,  brought  the  lad  at  last 
to  the  little  valley  where  he  had  seen  the  cari 
bou,  and  there  the  shelter  stopped,  except  for 


3o4        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

sundry  large  boulders,  which  did  not  afford  a 
complete  cover.  Roger  had  worked  round,  of 
course,  so  that  he  was  coming  up  wind.  He  had 
come  within  about  half  a  mile  of  them,  when  he 
found  cover  absolutely  gone,  so  lying  prone  on 
his  face,  and  just  wriggling  forward  by  move 
ments  of  his  knees  a  foot  or  so  at  a  time,  he  spent 
at  least  an  hour  advancing  a  quarter  of  a  mile  on 
the  objects  of  his  quest. 

Suddenly,  when  he  was  about  four  hundred 
yards  away,  though  he  was  not  conscious  of  hav 
ing  made  a  sound,  and  though  he  had  not  been 
able  to  discern  any  change  in  the  direction  of  the 
wind,  the  nearest  of  the  four  stopped  feeding  and 
threw  up  his  head.  The  boy  had  been  careful, 
throughout  his  crawl,  to  change  the  sight  on  his 
rifle  to  the  distance  he  estimated  he  was  from  the 
game,  and  so,  when  the  caribou  stopped,  he  was 
ready.  He  waited  a  moment,  hoping  that  the  an 
imal,  seeing  and  hearing  nothing,  would  resume 
feeding,  but  instead,  the  alarm  seemed  to  com 
municate  itself  to  the  others,  and  they  appeared  to 
prepare  for  flight. 

Like  a  flash  the  thought  shot  through  Roger's 
mind  that  if  they  once  started  to  run  he  would 
not  be  able  to  stalk  them  again  that  night,  and 


FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE  305 

determining  to  risk  a  long  shot,  rather  than  none 
at  all,  he  laid  his  rifle  across  a  boulder  which  he 
had  been  using  as  a  cover,  and  taking  a  careful 
aim,  fired.  The  distance  seemed  to  him  tremen 
dous,  and  as  the  rifle  cracked  the  four  leaped 
into  full  career,  but  the  one  at  which  the  boy  had 
fired  gave  a  jump,  which,  to  his  excited  idea, 
seemed  to  show  that  he  had  been  hit.  Away 
started  Roger  at  full  tilt  after  them,  but  they 
were  speedily  out  of  sight.  Tearing  along  at 
topmost  speed  over  the  uneven  ground,  Roger's 
breath  began  to  give  out  and  little  black  spots 
danced  before  his  eyes,  but  when  he  reached  the 
trail  of  the  fleeing  caribou  and  found  a  spot  of 
blood  in  the  tracks  of  one  of  them,  he  would  not 
have  changed  places  with  the  Director  of  the  Sur 
vey.  On  he  went,  following  this  track,  and  noting 
that  the  leaps  were  growing  shorter  and  shorter, 
but  his  endurance  was  beginning  to  give  out,  when 
he  saw  before  him,  not  more  than  half  a  mile 
away,  a  solitary  caribou.  Knowing  that  those 
which  had  not  been  hit  were  probably  four  or  five 
miles  distant  at  this  time,  and  that  they  would  not 
stop  under  fifteen  miles  or  so,  the  boy  knew  that 
this  was  his  victim  and  he  redoubled  his  energies. 
The  sight  of  the  pursuer  seemed  to  revive  the 


306        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

flagging  energies  of  the  deer,  and  for  half  an  hour 
he  increased  the  distance.  Then  Roger  saw  that 
he  was  gaining,  although  the  dusk  was  coming 
on  fast.  Fearing  to  lose  his  game,  he  decided  for 
another  long  shot,  and  was  again  successful,  for 
at  the  crack  of  the  rifle  the  caribou  fell,  staggered 
to  his  feet,  gave  a  few  convulsive  leaps,  and  fell 
again,  and  when,  ten  minutes  later,  the  boy  stood 
beside  the  object  of  his  quest,  a  magnificent  Bar 
ren  Ground  Caribou,  the  animal  was  dead.  Eoger 
knew  that  it  was  no  use  trying  to  skin  the  caribou, 
and  greatly  though  he  desired  its  head,  he  had 
been  told  that  the  party  could  not  bother  with  it, 
so  cutting  off  as  much  of  the  meat  as  he  could 
carry,  he  started  for  the  camp,  which  he  reached 
four  or  five  hours  later,  and  displayed  his  evi 
dence,  and  told  his  hunting  story  with  infinite 
zest  and  relish. 

A  couple  of  days  later,  while  the  men  were  en 
joying  an  after-dinner  smoke,  Roger  noticed 
Rivers  stooping  by  the  edge  of  one  of  the  river 
bars,  flicking  water  out  of  a  gold  pan  in  regular 
cadenced  jerks.  Seeing  the  boy,  he  beckoned  to 
him,  and  carefully  pointing  to  two  or  three  tiny 
particles  of  metal  that  lay  on  the  rock  beside  him, 
he  held  out  his  hand  to  the  boy. 


o 


FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE  307 

"  Gold!  "  he  said. 

"  You  have  found  a  gold  mine?  "  Roger  in 
quired  excitedly. 

The  geologist  smiled  at  the  boy's  sudden  con 
clusion  that  uniniagined  wealth  lay  exposed  be 
fore  them. 

"  Gold  does  not  come  in  quarries  like  build 
ing  stone, ' '  he  said  with  a  laugh.  ' '  Did  you  think 
it  came  in  great  masses  of  rock?  ' 

' '  No, ' '  answered  Roger, ' l  but  I  thought  it  came 
in  veins  through  the  rocks. ' ' 

1  i  So  it  does,  but  you  can  find  it  in  sand.  What 
is  sand?  " 

The  boy  thought  a  moment.  "  Why,"  he  said, 
at  length,  "  sand  is  rocks  ground  small  by  the  ac 
tion  of  wind  and  water." 

"  Very  well,"  said  his  chief.  "  Now  if  some 
of  the  rocks  ground  small  contained  a  vein  of 
gold,  what  would  happen  to  it?  ' 

"  The  gold  would  be  turned  into  sand,  too," 
answered  the  boy. 

"  Only  in  part,"  said  the  older  man.  "  The 
gold  is  hard  and  heavy,  and  when  it  is  eroded 
from  the  rocks  it  comes  in  flakes  rather  than  small 
particles.  Then,  you  see,  when  sand  is  washed 
this  way, ' '  illustrating  by  a  cradling  motion, ' '  the 


3o8        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

gold  sinks  to  the  bottom  as  the  sand  is  washed 
away  from  it,  and  you  can  take  out  the  pieces  of 
gold  with  comparative  ease." 

"  Then  it  ought  to  be  very  easy  to  get  gold!  r 
exclaimed  the  boy  with  visions  of  Arabian  Nights 
wealth  floating  before  his  eyes. 

"  Don't  you  believe  it.  There  is  gold  on  this 
river  bar,  as  I  have  shown  you,  and,  indeed,  gold 
has  been  reported  by  the  Survey  on  nearly  all 
the  bars  of  the  Tanana  River  and  its  tributaries ; 
but  the  geological  history  of  the  region  is  far 
from  perfectly  known  yet,  and  the  tracing  to  their 
original  sources  the  debris  of  the  Cantwell  and 
Tanana  Eivers  is  an  excessively  complicated 
subject.  Of  course,  if  you  found  the  original  vein 
of  gold  from  which  these  flakes  came,  it  would  pay 
big,  but  near  its  source  it  may  be  in  sufficient  quan 
tity  to  pay  well,  even  in  placer  form." 

"  But  if  you  can  wash  it  right  out  of  the  sand," 
objected  Eoger,  his  imagination  fired  by  the  sight 
of  the  particles  of  metal,  "  why  not  get  it  that 
way?  " 

"  Nothing  easier,"  replied  the  geologist. 
"  Thousands  of  people  might  come  up  here  and 
wash  the  sands  of  this  and  other  rivers,  the  White 
Eiver  in  particular,  but  it  doesn't  follow  that 


FACING  DEATH  IN  A  CANOE  309 

they  would  get  enough  to  pay  them  for  their 
trouble.  Just  think  what  it  would  cost  to  get  up 
here !  I  suppose  from  the  '  colors  '  in  this  sand, 
each  one  of  us  could  wash  from  six  to  ten  dollars' 
worth  of  gold  a  day  through  the  summer,  but  what 
use  would  that  be?  It  wouldn't  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  trip;  still  hundreds  have  made  small  for 
tunes  by  such  methods." 

"  Then  prospecting  for  gold's  not  so  easy  after 
all?  " 

"  It's  one  of  the  hardest  lives  I  know,"  was  the 
reply,  "  and  the  most  dissatisfying.  If  you  hap 
pen  to  strike  a  '  pay-streak,'  as  it  is  called,  it  may 
be  very  profitable." 

"  But  if  you  strike  the  original  vein?  "  asked 
Roger.  "  Isn't  it  pretty  good  then?  " 

* '  Only  under  certain  conditions, ' '  answered  the 
older  man.  "  You  can't  crush  the  quartz  rock  ex 
cept  with  heavy  machinery,  and  you  can  easily  see 
that  it's  no  light  job  getting  huge  crushers  up 
here.  And  that's  not  all:  after  you  have  spent 
thousands  of  dollars  in  buying  the  machinery  and 
more  thousands  in  moving  it  to  this  forsaken  spot, 
you  then  have  to  spend  tens  of  thousands  building 
up  a  water  power  development,  or  else  face  the 
still  more  difficult  problem  of  transporting  coal  to 


310        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

run  your  engines.     Then  high  wages  are  a  big 
factor,  too!  " 

"  Then,  if  it's  so  hard  to  get  at,  what  drew  the 
crowds  at  the  time  of  the  Yukon  and  Nome 
'  strikes?  '  "  asked  Roger. 

"  The  desire  to  get  rich  quick,"  was  the  reply. 
"  It  is  safe  to  say  that  not  more  than  ten  per  cent.  ' 
of  the  thousands  of  people  who  came  to  Alaska 
in  the  gold  rush  succeeded.  Alaska  is  no  Eldorado 
to  pick  up  wealth  idly,  though  the  gold  industry, 
properly  capitalized,  is  important  and  worth  $20- 
000,000  annually  to  the  country." 

"  But  surely  some  one  made  money  in  the  Klon 
dike  and  Nome  fields?  " 

"  There  was  a  lot  of  gold  near  the  surface,  and 
the  first-comers  got  that  without  much  trouble,  as 
well  as  getting  the  richest  claims.  There  is  plenty 
more  there,  but  it  is  in  frozen  gravels  and  hard  to 
get  out.  Prospecting  for  gold  is  the  best  thing  I 
know  to  keep  away  from,  unless  you  are  willing  to 
live  in  solitude  and  disappointment  all  your  life, 
living  on  the  bare  hope  that  some  time  you  may  be 
lucky  enough  to  strike  a  rich  l  pocket. '  ' ' 


CHAPTER  XVI 

DECLARING   WAR   ON    UNCLE   SAM 

THE  broad  lower  reaches  of  the  Cantwell  River, 
the  perfect  weather,  the  smoothly  flowing  current 
had  made  the  couple  of  days  prior  to  the  finding  of 
the  gold  almost  a  pleasure  trip  and  compensated 
to  Roger  for  the  hardship  through  which  he  had 
gone  in  the  rapids  above.  But  one  evening,  while 
at  supper,  one  of  the  men  suddenly  smacked  the 
top  of  one  hand  with  the  palm  of  the  other,  then 
held  it  out  silently  for  inspection.  On  it  was  a 
small  mosquito  such  as  are  seen  in  thousands  dur 
ing  the  summer  all  over  America. 

"  They've  come,  then,"  was  the  only  remark, 
"  but  it's  early  for  them  yet." 

"  What  is  it,  just  a  mosquito?  "  asked  Roger. 

11  Just  a  mosquito,"  repeated  Gersup,  with  a 
curious  inflection  in  his  voice,  "  just  a  poor  in 
nocent  mosquito." 

"  Do  you  have  many  of  them  up  here?  "  asked 
the  boy,  struck  by  the  note  of  satire  in  the  topog 
rapher's  voice. 

3" 


3i2        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  Yes,  we  do,"  he  replied  curtly. 

"  Many  of  them?  "  put  in  Magee.  "  Why,  a 
week  from  now  you  can  wave  a  pint  pot  over  your 
head  and  catch  a  quart  of  mosquitoes  in  it,  and 
a  month  from  now  we'll  have  to  cut  our  way 
through  them  with  an  ax. ' ' 

1  i  Oh,  come  off,  now, ' '  said  Roger,  laughing. 

"  Laugh  all  you  want  to,"  continued  the  Irish 
man,  "  but  it's  a  fact.  Why,  when  they  were 
building  the  Yukon  railroad,  during  the  months  of 
July  and  August  as  the  men  went  to  work,  they 
had  to  send  the  snow  plow  ahead  of  the  gang  in 
the  morning  in  order  to  break  a  way  through  the 
banks  of  mosquitoes,  and  sometimes  they  had  to 
put  two  engines  behind  the  plow — make  a  double- 
header  of  it." 

'  *  Pretty  good  yarn,  Magee, ' '  said  the  boy, ' '  but 
if  they're  no  worse  than  that  I  guess  I  can  stand 
it." 

Here  Eivers  broke  in.  ' '  You  will  do  well  if  you 
do  stand  it,"  he  said,  "  because  Magee  is  not  so 
very  far  out.  You  will  hardly  believe  it,  but  I  woul d 
rather  face  a  country  of  hostile  Indians  than  hos 
tile  mosquitoes.  That  little  mosquito  you  saw  to 
night  means  hundreds  to-morrow,  thousands  the 
next  day,  and  from  that  until  cold  weather  hun- 


DECLARING  WAR  ON  UNCLE  SAM  313 

dreds  of  thousands  all  the  time.  Magee  isn't 
exaggerating  much,  because  Baron  Munchausen 
would  find  it  hard  to  do  the  Alaskan  mosquitoes 
justice,  when  they  get  busy. ' ' 

"  Are  they  especially  venomous,  then?  "  the  boy 
asked,  growing  serious. 

* '  No,  but  they  are  especially  numerous.  Many 
a  man  has  gone  mad  on  the  trail  because  he  had  no 
protection  from  them.  That,  practically,  wiped 
out  of  existence  one  of  the  largest  gold-hunting 
parties  that  ever  came  to  Alaska." 

' '  Tell  us  about  it,  Mr.  Rivers, ' '  urged  Roger. 

1 '  Well,  I  will, ' '  the  chief  replied,  "  if  it  is  only 
to  give  you  a  due  respect  for  your  enemies.  This 
party  of  which  I  am  speaking  had  landed  on 
Kotzebue  Sound,  and  having  heard  of  an  alleged 
Indian  trail  to  the  Koyukuk,  somewhere  near  the 
Selawik  River,  and  having  found  out  beside  that 
it  was  tundra  and  flat,  they  thought  it  would  be 
easy  traveling. ' ' 

Here  Magee  chuckled  audibly  at  the  idea  of 
tundra  being  easy  going. 

"  It  wasn't  long,"  went  on  the  chief,  not  notic 
ing  the  interruption,  "  before  they  reached  the 
tundra  and  discovered  that  it  was  scarcely  as 
pleasant  as  they  thought.  Walking  on  tundra 


3H        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

is  like,  is  like, — tell  him  what  it's  like, 
Magee. ' ' 

"  It's  like  walking  over  slippery  footballs  half- 
sunk  in  slime, ' '  said  the  Irishman  promptly. 

"  Well,  that  will  do,"  said  Eivers.  "  Any  way, 
they  were  tramping  over  this  and  losing  heart  fast 
when  the  mosquitoes  began.  They  had  nothing 
with  them  which  would  serve  to  keep  off  the 
insects,  and  some  of  the  party  were  stung  so  fear 
fully  that  a  superficial  form  of  blood  poisoning  set 
in.  Others,  unable  to  endure  the  torture  night 
and  day,  killed  themselves;  others  again  went  in 
sane  and  became  violent;  of  that  large  party  but 
two  returned  to  the  coast,  one  who  by  some  freak 
of  nature  was  immune,  and  his  chum,  who  had 
become  half-witted  by  the  experience." 

"  You  bet,"  commented  the  topographer,  "  the 
Alaskan  mosquito  is  a  matter  to  be  taken  very 
seriously." 

In  spite  of  the  general  opinion  so  strongly  ex 
pressed,  Roger  felt  a  little  scornful  about  being 
bothered  with  a  few  pesky  mosquitoes,  and  he  was 
inclined  to  think  it  an  utterly  foolish  precaution 
when  he  was  given  an  arrangement  of  netting  to 
put  over  his  head  and  let  it  hang  down  well  over 
his  shoulders,  but  his  scorn  vanished  rapidly. 


DECLARING  WAR  ON  UNCLE  SAM  315 

Within  an  hour  his  hands,  unprotected  by  gloves, 
became  puffed  and  swollen  from  bites,  and  he 
found  it  necessary  to  put  on  thick  buckskin  to  pre 
serve  him  from  the  bites  and  to  keep  his  sleeves 
rolled  down.  Even  then  he  was  not  entirely  free, 
for  in  some  mysterious  way  the  insects  would  work 
themselves  into  his  clothes,  and  at  night,  although 
the  tent  was  placed  on  a  canvas  which  fastened  to 
its  sides  like  a  floor,  so  that  the  mosquitoes  could 
not  come  up  from  underneath,  a  few  of  them  al 
ways  were  to  be  heard — and  felt.  So  that,  before 
many  days  had  passed,  Rogers  was  convinced  that 
the  Alaskan  mosquito  was  a  very  important  factor 
in  life  on  the  trail. 

Five  days  after  leaving  the  portage,  having 
covered  over  one  hundred  miles  of  very  easy 
going,  the  party  made  camp  at  Harper's  Bend  on 
the  Tanana  Eiver.  So  far  as  buildings  went,  it 
was  quite  an  imposing  place,  no  less  than  nine  huts 
being  in  evidence,  but  they  were  all  vacant  and 
deserted  and  a  sense  of  loneliness  and  desolation 
hung  over  the  place.  The  sight  of  human 
habitation,  after  so  many  weeks  in  the  wild,  ought 
to  have  given  a  sense  of  homelikeness,  but  instead 
the  boy  was  conscious  of  an  eerie  sense  of 
estrangement. 


316        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

At  supper  that  evening  Roger  mentioned  this 
feeling,  and  added : 

"  Somehow  I  feel  as  if  this  place  were  haunted. 
It  doesn't  so  much  seem  abandoned  to  nothingness 
as  it  does  given  to  some  uncanny  ghost." 

Magee  crossed  himself. 

11  Saints  preserve  us!  "  he  said.  "  Don't  talk 
like  that,  or  ye '11  bring  the  night-riders  here." 

"  Nonsense,  Magee,"  reproved  Rivers,  "  a  man 
of  your  experience  so  superstitious !  But  the  boy 
might  be  right,  for  all  that." 

"  By  the  power  of  good  luck,  why?  "  asked  the 
Irishman. 

1  i  You  tell  the  story,  Gersup, ' '  replied  the  chief, 
"  you  know  more  about  it  than  I  do." 

"  Alaska's  a  pretty  new  country  to  be  starting  a 
ghost  crop,"  the  topographer  began,  "  and,  so  far 
as  I  know,  there  aren't  any  here  yet;  but,  if  any 
place  ought  to  have  one,  it  should  be  Harper's 
Bend,  right  where  we  are  now,  and  in  this  very 
house  in  which  we  are  sitting. ' ' 

Magee  shivered  and  looked  about  him  appre 
hensively. 

"  There  was  once,"  Gersup  continued,  "  a 
trader  at  this  place  by  the  name  of  Bean,  William 
Bean.  He  came  in  the  year  1879,  and  established 


DECLARING  WAR  ON  UNCLE  SAM  317 

a  post  for  the  purpose  of  trafficking  in  the  furs  of 
the  Tanana  Indians.  He  found  the  tribes  peaceful 
enough,  their  furs  were  of  high  quality  and,  as  he 
had  no  competition,  he  was  able  to  get  them 
cheaply  and  to  make  a  big  profit  out  of  it.  The 
natives  seemed  to  be  so  friendly  and  the  oppor 
tunity  for  making  money  was  so  good  that  he  de 
termined  to  make  it  a  permanent  little  settlement ; 
he  brought  his  wife  to  the  place,  and  made  ar 
rangements  for  other  families  to  follow. 

"  But  it  chanced,  one  day,  that  some  natives 
from  neighboring  tribes,  who  had  visited  trading 
posts,  came  by  the  Tanana  Indian  camps,  and 
when  they  saw  how  little  their  allies  were  getting 
from  Bean  for  their  skins,  they  suggested  either 
visiting  other  posts  or  demanding  more  from  their 
own  trader.  But  Bean,  so  far  as  can  be  learned, 
was  harsh  and  arrogant,  and  instead  of  offering  a 
little  more,  which  would  still  yield  a  handsome 
profit,  he  refused  to  consider  the  matter  at  all,  and 
sneeringly  pointing  out  that  they  were  so  far  from 
any  other  post  that  they  would  have  to  come  to 
him,  he  drove  them  away  with  gibes. 

' '  Now  the  Indian  usually  has  a  sense  of  justice 
which  is  peculiar  to  himself.  To  us  it  may  at 
times  appear  distorted,  but  it  is  a  sense  of  justice 


318        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

none  the  less,  and  this  sense  Bean  had  offended. 
He  made  the  further  mistake  of  supposing  that 
their  quiescence  under  his  sharp  rebuff  was  an 
evidence  either  of  cowardice  or  of  ignorance  of  the 
true  values  of  their  furs.  So,  lulled  into  a  false 
security  by  his  own  conceit,  he  remained  there. 
One  morning,  while  the  whites  were  at  breakfast, 
a  war-party  came  and  attacked  the  block 
house,  an  Indian  shooting  Mrs.  Bean  from  the 
doorway.  The  trader  leaped  up,  seized  his  small 
child,  and  dashed  through  a  rear  door  to  a  near-by 
boat,  followed  by  an  Indian  servant.  Some  days 
later  a  party  came  up  from  the  Yukon  and  buried 
Mrs.  Bean,  but  the  trader  never  returned. 

"  The  country  was  not  settled  enough  at  that 
time  for  any  question  to  be  taken  up  of  punishing 
the  Indians  for  the  crime,  and  there  is  no  doubt  of 
the  provocation  that  the  trader  had  given  them. 
But  this  single  incident  in  the  history  of  the  tribe 
is  all  too  little  to  brand  them  with  the  repu 
tation  of  treachery  which  they  have  borne  ever 
since. ' ' 

The  following  morning  the  canoes  passed 
through  a  section  of  the  country  which,  as  Rivers 
pointed  out  to  Roger,  could  be  made  the  garden 
spot  of  Alaska.  Well  timbered,  well  watered,  with 


DECLARING  WAR  ON  UNCLE  SAM  319 

a  favorable  climate  and  easy  of  access  by  steamer 
up  the  Yukon,  the  lower  Tanana  could  be  made  a 
fruitful  agricultural  country. 

"  Some  day,"  the  chief  of  the  party  said,  "  an 
enterprising  man  will  start  a  big  farm  here,  to 
supply  the  posts  all  along  the  Yukon  with  provi 
sions,  for  which  they  now  have  to  pay  big  prices  on 
being  brought  by  steamer  all  the  way  from  Seattle. 
That  man  will  make  ten  times  as  much  money  as 
any  of  the  gold  mine  operators,  and  besides,  will 
be  living  in  security  and  comfort." 

They  halted  for  the  midday  stop,  a  few  miles 
above  the  junction  of  the  Tanana  with  the  Yukon, 
and  about  four  o'clock  the  canoes  shot  into  that 
great  river  of  the  north.  Surprised  as  the  boy 
had  been  at  the  size  of  the  Alaskan  rivers,  he  was 
by  no  means  prepared  for  the  body  of  water  where 
the  Tanana  joins  the  Yukon. 

"  Why,"  he  said  in  amaze,  "  I  had  no  idea  it 
was  as  big  as  this." 

"  Heap  big  river,"  commented  Harry,  who  was 
in  the  stern. 

The  chief  was  in  the  boat,  and  hearing  the  lad's 
exclamation  he  turned  to  him. 

11  This  is  the  fifth  largest  river  in  North  Amer 
ica,"  he  said. 


320        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  "What  are  the  others,  Mr.  Rivers?  "  the 
boy  asked.  "  The  Mississippi  comes  first  of 
course. ' ' 

"  Yes,  and  then  the  Mackenzie,  the  Winnipeg, 
and  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  that  order.  But  the 
Yukon  and  the  St.  Lawrence  are  just  about  the 
same  size." 

"  Well,"  Eoger  said,  "  it  certainly  is  big 
enough. ' ' 

Harry  grunted.  ' '  Plenty  big  to  paddle  up, ' '  he 
said. 

Then  the  boy  noticed  for  the  first  time  that  there 
was  quite  a  current  in  the  river  and  that  it  was 
necessary  to  paddle  up  against  the  stream  instead 
of  rushing  down  as  they  had  been  able  to  do  on  the 
Tanana,  and  he  buckled  to  his  work.  But  they 
had  not  been  breasting  the  current  for  more  than 
an  hour  when  one  of  the  men  in  the  rear  boat  gave 
a  shout  and  pointed  down  the  stream.  Every  one 
looked,  and  there,  far  down,  could  be  seen  a  faint 
smoke  like  that  of  a  steamer. 

"  That  looks  like  a  steamer's  smoke,"  said  the 
boy.  "  I  wonder  what  it  can  be." 

"  Why  not  a  steamer?  "  queried  Rivers. 

The  boy  looked  bewildered. 

"  I  don't  know  why  not,"  he  said,  laughing;  "  it 


DECLARING  WAR  ON  UNCLE  SAM  321 

just  didn't  occur  to  me  that  any  people  lived 
about  here.  Are  there  any  steamers  on  the 
Yukon?  " 

"  Lots  of  them.  There's  quite  a  little  traffic  on 
the  river  and  it  is  good  for  navigation  for  hun 
dreds  of  miles,  indeed,  all  the  way  to  the  Canadian 
boundary  and  above.  Now  you  see,  we  will  get 
this  fellow,  whoever  he  is,  to  take  us  up  to  Fort 
Hamlin.  It's  just  as  well  to  save  one's  strength 
when  there  is  no  need  to  exert  it." 

So  the  canoes  took  it  easily,  just  paddling  along 
quietly,  not  trying  to  make  much  headway,  but  on 
the  other  hand,  not  drifting  down  the  stream,  and 
commenting  on  the  approaching  steamer,  as  soon 
as  she  came  in  sight.  She  was  a  small  vessel,  but 
quite  trim  and  ship-shape,  and  to  Roger's  eyes  had 
a  curious  look  of  being  civilized  and  out  of  place  in 
the  environment. 

As  soon  as  the  steamer  came  close,  Rivers  gave 
orders  for  the  leading  canoe,  in  which  he  was,  to 
drop  behind,  so  that  he  might  speak  to  the  captain, 
and  as  the  steamer  forged  up  beside  them  the 
canoes  got  full  way  on,  to  give  a  chance  for  the 
steamer  to  pick  them  up. 

' '  Ahoy,  there !  ' '  shouted  Rivers  as  soon  as  the 
little  vessel  was  within  hailing  distance. 


322        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

The  captain  of  the  vessel  picked  up  his  speaking 
trumpet. 

"  Well,  what's  the  trouble,  what  do  you  want?  " 
he  roared  back. 

"  Going  up  to  Fort  Hamlin.  Take  us  on 
board." 

"  Can't  stop,"  the  captain  shouted,  "  this  is  a 
government  boat." 

"So  is  this,"  replied  Rivers,  a  little  nettled, 
1 '  slow  up  and  take  us  on  board. ' ' 

Now,  as  it  chanced,  the  skipper  was  a  choleric 
little  man  with  a  very  quick  temper,  which  had  not 
been  improved  on  the  trip  by  the  presence  of  a 
party  of  tourists,  who  had  been  grumbling  at 
everything  American  all  the  way  up  the  river.  So 
he  was  anxious  to  magnify  the  importance  of  his 
post  and  not  be  at  the  beck  and  call  of  every  tramp 
on  the  river.  Irritated,  therefore,  he  shouted 
back: 

"  Get  to  Fort  Hamlin  the  best  way  you  can,  I 
can't  spare  any  time." 

By  this  time  Eivers  was  warming  up,  and  he  did 
not  want  to  be  discomfited  before  his  party,  so 
he  yelled  back  in  an  authoritative  voice : 

"  Do  as  you're  told  and  stop  that  vessel!  I 
want  to  go  on  board." 


DECLARING  WAR  ON  UNCLE  SAM  323 

"  Oh,  you  do,  do  you,"  sneered  the  skipper, 
"  then  you  can  want,"  and  he  rang  the  telegraph 
for  full  speed  ahead. 

Elvers  was  ready  with  a  retort,  but  Bulson,  who 
on  occasion  could  become  furiously  angry,  sud 
denly  blazed,  and  picking  up  a  rifle  that  lay  on  the 
boat,  he  fired  across  the  bows  of  the  steamer  as 
she  forged  up  to  the  leading  canoe. 

The  captain  picked  up  his  speaking  trumpet 
again. 

11  What  in  Creation  do  you  think  you  are 
doing?  "  he  roared,  with  all  his  force.  "  This  is  a 
United  States  mail  boat,"  and  he  pointed  to  the 
mail  flag  flying  at  the  stern. 

Bulson  made  no  reply  other  than  sending  an 
other  shot  across  the  steamer's  bows. 

Then  if  any  man  was  wild  it  was  that  captain. 
That  a  government  ship,  flying  a  government  flag, 
should  be  fired  on  in  American  waters  by  a  party 
of  tramps  in  two  battered  canoes !  And  that  those 
tourists  should  have  seen  it!  He  fairly  danced 
with  rage.  It  was  too  much  for  flesh  and  blood  to 
stand. 

He  swung  the  ship  round  sharply,  volleying  in 
vectives  as  he  did  so,  and  vowing  by  all  his  gods 
that  he  would  put  every  member  of  the  party  in 


324        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

irons  until  they  reached  port,  and  then  would  see 
them  in  jail  for  treason.  And  the  more  he  ful 
minated,  the  more  the  tourists  chaffed  him,  until 
when  the  boats  sheered  alongside,  he  was  purple 
in  the  face  with  temper. 

'  *  What  do  you  mean,  sir, ' '  he  began,  stuttering 
in  his  speech;  "  what  do  you  mean  by  firing  across 
our  bows,  sir?  Are  you  aware  that  this  is  treason 
able  conduct,  sir?  It  is  infamous,  sir,  treasonable 
and  infamous !  Thirty  years  have  I  worn  the  uni 
form  of  the  service,  sir,  and  I  have  never  even 
heard  of  such  insolent  and  high-handed  conduct. 

"  Do  not  answer  me,  sir,"  he  thundered,  as 
Eivers  prepared  to  answer  him,  a  smile  lurking  be 
hind  the  shaggy  brown  beard.  "  I  will  not  be 
answered.  Consider  yourself  under  arrest,  sir, 
and  you  will  be  handed  over  to  the  authorities  at 
Fort  Gibbon." 

"  But  I  think,  Captain,"  said  Rivers,  enjoying 
the  amusement  visible  on  the  faces  of  his  party, 
"  that  you  will  take  us  to  Fort  Hamlin.  I  pre 
sume  you  are  going  that  far. ' ' 

"  Take  you  to  Fort  Hamlin?  Are  you  the  com 
mander  of  this  vessel,  sir,  or  am  I?  Answer  me 
that,  sir!  And,"  he  continued,  with  unnoticing 
inconsistency,  "  if  you  do  so  much  as  answer  me, 


DECLARING  WAR  ON  UNCLE  SAM  325 

I  shall  clap  you  in  irons.  In  irons,  sir,  and  every 
man  Jack  of  your  party  with  you." 

"  Your  threat  does  not  disturb  me  in  the  least," 
was  the  unmoved  reply,  "  because  you  would  not 
dare  to  do  it." 

"  Not  dare?  "  exploded  the  little  man,  and  turn 
ing,  he  was  about  to  give  an  order,  when  Eivers 
stopped  him. 

"  You  had  better  wait,"  he  said,  "  before  you 
do  anything  for  which  you  may  be  sorry.  I  have 
told  you  several  times  to  take  us  to  Fort  Hamlin, 
and  you  reply  with  threats  of  arrest  and  what  not. 
You  cannot  arrest  any  man  without  some  cause, 
and  no  cause  has  been  given." 

"  No  cause,  sir?  You  have  given  cause  enough 
to  be  strung  up  at  the  yardarm,  sir,  strung  up 
without  any  resort  to  the  civil  authority.  Did 
you  not  fire  across  my  bows,  sir?  No  cause,  in 
deed  !  Do  you  not  know,  sir,  that  such  an  action  is 
a  declaration  of  war,  sir,  and  that  in  times  of 
peace,  it  is  privateering  and  piracy,  and  a  dozen 
other  things  besides,  sir?  ' 

"  And  who  has  more  right  to  fire  across  your 
bows  than  I  have?  "  queried  Eivers  with  a  fine  as 
sumption  of  authority. 

"  More  right,"  cried  the  captain,  his  voice  ris- 


326        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

ing  to  a  perfect  shriek,  "  you  have  no  right,  no 
one  has  any  right — 

"  Nevertheless  I  have,"  continued  Rivers,  but 
before  he  could  explain  his  mission,  the  little  officer 
broke  in  again. 

"  You  have?  If  you  were  the  Czar  of  Eussia, 
sir,  and  every  one  of  the  scarecrows  with  you  was 
a  crowned  head,  sir,  you  would  have  no  right  to 
stop  an  American  vessel  in  American  waters.  On 
American  waters,  did  I  say?  On  any  waters,  sir. 
Wherever  that  flag  flies,  sir,  she  shall  not  be 
stopped  by  any  one.  And  whoever  fires  on  that 
flag,  sir,  is  an  enemy  to  me  and  my  country,  and  I 
should  have  no  hesitation  in  shooting  him  down 
like  a  dog.  Like  a  dog,  sir,  the  dog  that  he  is !  ' 

"  Well,  Captain,"  said  Rivers,  thinking  that  the 
matter  had  gone  far  enough.  "  I  am  sure  you 
would  be  sorry  if  you  shot  me  down  like  a  dog,  as 
you  say.  I  am  on  government  service,  just  as  you 
are,  and  am  just  as  loyal  to  the  United  States  as 
you  can  be.  My  name  is  Rivers,  of  the  Geological 
Survey. ' ' 

11  Rivers,  the  head  of  the  Alaskan  work?  ' 

"  Yes.  The  navy  department  was  kind  enough 
to  place  a  gunboat  at  my  disposal  for  the  trip  from 
Seattle  to  Cook  Inlet,  and  a  revenue  cutter  has 


DECLARING  WAR  ON  UNCLE  SAM  327 

been  ordered  to  meet  us  at  Point  Barrow  in  the 
autumn,  so  I  feel  sure  the  Postal  authorities  will 
not  complain  of  your  affording  us  facilities  as  far 
as  Fort  Hamlin." 

"  And  why  did  you  not  say  so  before,  sir!  ' 

"  You  didn't  give  me  a  chance,"  answered 
Rivers,  smiling. 

"  If  I  had  known  who  you  were,  sir,  that  would 
have  been  an  entirely  different  matter.  I  should 
have  esteemed  it  a  pleasure,  sir,  to  have  been  able 
to  assist  you  in  any  way." 

He  turned  to  the  passengers,  who  had  been  lis 
tening  to  the  altercation  with  great  zest. 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  you  see  that  only  the 
American  government  itself  can  dare  to  delay  a 
United  States  mail  boat.  Gentlemen,  let  me  intro 
duce  Mr.  Rivers,  chief  of  the  Geological  Survey  in 
Alaska." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

CLAWED   BY  AN   ANGRY   BEAE 

THE  first  day  of  June  saw  the  party  safely  in 
Fort  Hamlin,  having  landed  from  the  mail  boat. 
The  captain  had  shown  a  very  great  eagerness  to 
be  rid  of  them,  as  their  presence  reminded  him  of 
an  incident  in  his  trip  which  he  preferred  to  for 
get. 

' '  I  am  glad  to  have  met  you,  sir, ' '  said  the  little 
officer  to  Rivers,  as  the  geological  party  went  over 
the  side  to  their  two  canoes,  "  and  to  have  been 
able  to  assist  you  thus  far.  But,  sir,  I  trust  the 
next  time  you  have  occasion  to  board  a  United 
States  vessel,  sir,  you  will  not  deem  it  necessary 
to  adopt  such  summary  proceedings." 

* '  I  am  sorry,  Captain, ' '  said  Rivers, ' '  but  there 
really  did  not  seem  to  be  any  other  way  of  stop 
ping  you,  and  it  was  necessary." 

The  little  skipper  waved  his  hand. 

"  The  incident  is  closed,  sir,"  he  said,  "  and  I 
wish  you  good  luck  on  your  trip  to  the  Arctic 
Ocean.  I  am  only  sorry  that  my  duty  will  not 

328 


CLAWED  BY  AN  ANGRY  BEAR  329 

permit  me  to  take  you  at  least  part  of  the  way  to 
Dall  City,  but,  sir,  I  am  due  in  Fort  Yukon  on  the 
sixth  of  the  month." 

An  appropriate  answering  expression  of  good 
wishes  having  been  made  by  Rivers,  the  little 
steamer  started  off  and  in  a  few  minutes  was  only 
visible  as  a  cloud  of  smoke  around  a  bend  in  the 
river.  A  busy  day  was  spent  at  Fort  Hamlin, 
making  the  last  preparations  for  the  next  lap  of 
the  journey,  namely  to  Bettles,  at  the  junction  of 
the  John  and  Koyukuk  Rivers,  a  long  and  by  no 
means  easy  trip. 

But  the  days  were  growing  long,  indeed  the 
nights  were  excessively  short,  and  as  everything 
was  ready  for  the  trip  by  a  little  after  three 
o'clock,  Rivers  gave  the  word  to  start,  and  a  few 
hours'  paddling  brought  the  voyagers  to  the  Dall 
River,  where  it  plunged  its  muddy  waters  into  the 
north  fork  of  the  Yukon.  There,  immediately 
across  from  an  Indian  village,  the  party  made  its 
first  camp  on  the  third  stage  of  the  journey. 

The  Dall  River  was  full  to  overflowing,  as  the 
spring  floods  had  not  all  come  down,  and,  so  far  as 
the  boy  could  see.  it  hardly  looked  like  a  river  at 
all,  but  a  large  flat  marsh,  with  a  sluggish  current. 
Over  this  the  boats  made  good  time,  sometimes 


330        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

following  a  blind  channel  only  marked  by  the  trees 
sticking  up  out  of  the  water,  and  sometimes  mak 
ing  a  short  cut  over  the  submerged  land.  Several 
times,  in  the  doing  of  this,  the  canoes  grounded, 
but  the  bottom  was  of  mud  and  no  harm  was  done, 
the  men  jumping  into  the  icy  water  to  pull  them 
clear. 

Higher  up  the  stream,  however,  the  ground  rose 
a  little  and  these  short  cuts  no  longer  became  pos 
sible,  so  that  the  tortuous  channel  had  to  be  fol 
lowed,  and  as  the  valley  of  the  Dall  is  extremely 
wide  and  the  stream  winds  from  side  to  side,  a 
long  day's  traveling  did  not  cause  so  great  an  ad 
vance.  Twenty  miles  of  this  irregular  going  was 
rarely  more  than  ten  or  twelve  miles  of  progress, 
and  the  eighty-five  miles  between  the  mouth  of  the 
river  and  Coal  Creek  consumed  an  entire  week. 
Here  Rivers  called  a  halt,  as  he  desired  to  examine 
the  lignite  or  soft  coal  of  the  region. 

Taking  Eoger  with  him,  the  geologist  ascended 
Coal  Creek  for  a  little  over  a  mile  above  its  con 
fluence  with  the  Dall,  and  there  they  found  a  large 
outcrop  of  lignite,  of  which  one  half  the  thickness 
of  the  seam  showed  coal  of  a  firm,  bright  quality. 

'  *  I  should  think, ' '  said  Eoger, 1 1  that  this  ought 
to  be  more  valuable  than  a  gold  mine,  for  Alaska 


CLAWED  BY  AN  ANGRY  BEAR  331 

would  be  all  right  to  live  in  during  the  winter,  if 
coal  was  cheap  and  easily  obtained." 

"  It  would  make  an  immense  difference,"  his 
chief  rejoined,  "  for  coal  will  go  further  to  build 
up  the  greatness  of  a  country  than  any  other  fac 
tor.  That  was  largely  the  cause  of  England's 
rise,  and  the  United  States  would  never  be  what 
they  are  to-day  if  it  were  not  for  the  anthracite 
and  bituminous  beds  of  Pennsylvania.  If  we 
could  lay  bare  a  big  anthracite  field,  Doughty,  it 
would  be  better  for  Alaska  than  all  the  gold  that's 
ever  been  struck,  though  the  soft  coking  coals, 
used  in  steel-making,  etc.,  also  are  extremely 
valuable. ' ' 

"  Perhaps  we  may,"  suggested  the  boy,  his  eyes 
alight  with  the  thought  of  a  possible  discovery. 

"  I  think  not,"  was  the  conservative  reply. 
"  This  is  the  only  coal-bearing  horizon,  and 
though  it  does  crop  up  all  over  the  country  it  is  a 
soft  coal  strata.  You  see  anthracite  is  a  coal 
much  older  and  subjected  to  much  greater  pres 
sure,  so  it  does  not  usually  occur  in  the  same  strata 
with  soft  coal." 

Returning  to  camp  in  time  to  complete  the  re 
maining  five  miles  assigned  for  that  day's  trip, 
Rivers  told  the  boy  that  they  would  spend  the 


332        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

night  in  Dall  City.  When  a  couple  of  hours  later 
the  canoes  stopped  in  front  of  three  or  four  aban 
doned  prospectors'  cabins,  the  boy  was  correspond 
ingly  disappointed. 

"  Is  this  Dall  City?  "  he  said  aloud  in  disgust. 

"  Sure,  this  is  Dall  City,"  said  Magee.  "  The 
Mayor  would  have  come  out  to  present  us  with 
the  freedom  of  the  city  on  a  silk  cushion,  but  as  he 
couldn't  get  a  quorum  of  the  aldermanic  council, 
he  decided  to  go  away  and  let  us  take  all  the  free 
dom  we  can  lay  our  hands  on.  On  to  freedom !  ' : 
and  the  jokester  jumped  out  of  the  canoe  to  aid  in 
running  her  up  on  the  bank. 

Above  Dall  City  the  river  becomes  absolutely 
impassable,  and  there  was  no  thought  of  trying  it, 
but  Rivers  knew  that  there  was  a  long  and  heavy 
portage  from  Dall  City,  although  it  was  over  a 
well-made  and  of  ten -used  trail.  But  the  pass  was 
immensely  steep,  the  mosquitoes  were  incompa 
rably  bad,  Eoger's  feet  were  tender,  and  that  two 
days '  portage  nearly  crumpled  him  up. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  day  he  felt  pretty  well 
exhausted,  but  he  had  not  shown  a  sign  of  letting 
up  throughout  the  work.  He  hoped  to  be  tough 
ened  up  by  next  morning,  but  when  daylight  came 
his  muscles  were  so  sore  and  tender  that  he  could 


CLAWED  BY  AN  ANGRY  BEAR  333 

not  bear  to  touch  them  with  his  finger.  None  the 
less,  he  gritted  his  teeth  and  settled  down  to  his 
work,  remembering  from  past  athletic  experience 
that  in  an  hour  or  so  he  would  limber  up. 

The  noon  day  stop  was  what  nearly  finished  the 
boy.  The  moment  he  sat  down  to  rest  before  din 
ner,  he  felt  as  though  he  could  never  get  up,  and 
even  the  food  seemed  unable  to  revive  his  flagging 
energies.  When  the  start  was  called,  however,  he 
caught  a  glance  that  Rivers  cast  first  on  him  and 
then  to  Gersup,  the  topographer.  That  was  the 
stimulant  he  needed,  his  pride  was  touched,  and 
he  leaped  to  his  feet  although  he  felt  as  though  it 
were  the  last  effort  he  would  ever  make. 

But  he  was  fortunate  in  having  a  considerate 
crowd,  and  though  all  could  see  that  the  lad  was 
nearly  beaten  out,  they  admired  his  pluck  and  grit 
in  saying  nothing  about  it,  and  would  not  dis 
hearten  him  by  letting  him  see  that  they  realized 
how  near  he  was  to  giving  up.  On  the  trail,  how 
ever,  his  pack  on  his  back,  and  nothing  to  do  but 
walk,  following  Bui  son,  who  was  immediately  in 
front  of  him,  his  will-power  showed  stronger  than 
his  legs  and  back,  and  though  he  felt  numb  and 
without  the  power  of  thought,  he  still  went  on.  For 
the  first  time  he  realized  how  brutalizing  exhaust- 


334        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

ing  physical  labor  can  be.  On  and  on  until  a  shout 
from  the  cook,  who  had  been  left  at  the  further 
end  of  the  portage  the  night  before,  told  Eoger 
that  the  carry  was  over  and  supper  ready.  As 
they  reached  the  spot  and  Bui  son  turned  to  help 
the  boy  unstrap  his  pack,  he  said  briefly : 

"  Bully  good  work,  Doughty;  that  was  a  long, 
hard  carry." 

* '  But  I  had  nothing  like  your  load, ' '  answered 
the  boy,  remembering  that  his  companion  had 
toted  at  least  forty  pounds  more  in  his  pack. 

"  You're  not  quite  so  old  yet,"  answered  the 
other,  then  with  a  smile,  "maybe  I'm  a  little 
stronger  than  you  are,  too." 

Supper  was  very  welcome  and  the  boiling  hot 
tea  seemed  to  put  new  life  into  the  boy,  but  a 
proposal  made  by  the  topographer  for  a  hunting 
trip  fell  on  deaf  ears. 

"  If  you  don't  mind,  Mr.  Gersup,"  he  said,  "  I 
think  I'd  rather  not.  Now  that  the  portage  is 
over,  I  don't  mind  confessing  that  I'm  a  little 
tired,  and  I  think  a  good  night's  sleep  will  seem 
a  whole  lot  better  than  any  kind  of  shooting  you 
can  think  of.  I  want  to  be  ready  for  work  to 
morrow,  and  any  way,  I  wouldn't  walk  half  a  mile 
to-night  to  shoot  wild  elephant." 


CLAWED  BY  AN  ANGRY  BEAR  335 

"  You're  wise,"  answered  the  older  man.  "  I 
wouldn  't  have  taken  you  any  way,  but  I  wanted  to 
see  if  you'd  have  the  nerve  to  say, '  No.'  I  reckon 
for  your  size  and  age,  son,  you're  about  as  good 
an  article  as  I've  ever  seen  on  a  first  trip." 

"  You've  been  over  this  ground  before,  then?  ' 
asked  the  boy,  lying  down  and  resting  his  head  on 
his  elbow. 

"  Right  over  this  trail.  I  made  a  reconnois- 
sance  once  from  Fort  Yukon  to  Kotzebue  Sound, 
and  it's  because  I  know  the  ground  so  well  that 
we're  making  such  good  time  now.  That  portage 
often  takes  three  days." 

"  What  a  wonder  Bulson  is  on  the  trail,"  said 
Roger,  trying  to  stifle  a  yawn, ' '  he  must  have  had 
a  hundred  and  thirty  pounds  in  his  pack  to 
day." 

"  Well,  he's  as  strong  as  a  grizzly,"  replied  the 
older  man,  "  and  he  just  eats  up  the  trail.  You're 
stronger  in  a  canoe.  By  the  way,  there  are  some 
rapids  on  the  Kanuti  River,  down  which  we  start 
to-morrow,  and  I  suppose  you'll  have  a  chance  to 
shine  there.  But  it's  nothing  like  that  fearful 
mess  on  the  Cantwell." 

"It's  a  pretty  wild  country  up  here,  just  the 
same,"  suggested  the  boy,  "  and,  speaking  of 


336        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

hunting,  there  must  be  lots  of  big  game  in  these 
forests." 

"  Plenty  of  it.  It's  not  more  than  ten  miles 
from  where  we  are  now  that  I  came  across  the  only 
man  I  ever  met  who  had  been  thoroughly  clawed 
by  a  bear  and  yet  lived  to  tell  the  tale. ' ' 

"  The  story!  "  demanded  Roger  peremptorily. 

t  i  It  wasn  't  so  much  of  a  yarn.  I  got  it  from  the 
half-breed  guide.  It  was  quite  early  in  the  sea 
son,"  he  began,  leaning  back  against  the  trunk  of 
a  tree,  ' '  and  we  had  just  made  camp,  a  little  fur 
ther  on  than  we  are  now,  because  the  water  in 
the  Kanuti  River  was  not  as  high  as  it  is  this 
season,  when  we  heard  a  shot  fired,  then  after  a 
regular  interval  another,  and  another,  and  so  on." 

"  Meaning  a  signal  of  distress?  "  questioned 
the  boy. 

"  Right,"  rejoined  the  older  man.  "  Well,  of 
course,  we  responded  the  same  way,  and  half  an 
hour  later  there  staggered  into  the  camp  a 
wounded  man  on  horseback,  and  a  half-breed  hold 
ing  him  in  the  saddle.  The  injured  man  was  a 
sight,  and  as  I  know  quite  a  little  about  surgery, 
I  looked  after  his  wounds,  took  a  few  stitches  here 
and  there,  pretty  much  all  over  at  that,  and  started 
them  off  on  the  trail  to  Fort  Hamlin,  a  couple  of 


CLAWED  BY  AN  ANGRY  BEAR  337 

days'  ride  away,  and  thence  to  Rampart,  a  couple 
of  hours  down  the  Yukon. 

"  But  before  they  left  I  learned  in  a  vague  sort 
of  way  how  the  whole  thing  had  come  about.  It 
appeared  that  the  poor  fellow  had  gone  up  to 
Caribou  Mountain  to  shoot  some  big  game,  and 
had  taken  the  half-breed  along  as  a  guide.  The 
luck  had  been  bad,  nothing  had  been  shot,  or 
even  sighted,  and  the  two  of  them  had  started  for 
home. 

"  One  day,  however,  the  same  day  that  he  met 
us,  on  turning  the  corner  of  a  rock,  the  half-breed 
being  a  little  distance  away,  the  hunter  saw  a  bear. 
Not  knowing  much  of  the  bears  in  this  part  of  the 
world,  it  simply  seemed  to  him  like  a  smaller 
species,  and,  dropping  on  one  knee  he  pumped 
three  shots  into  the  brute  and  it  fell  a  few  steps 
away.  Then,  foolishly  laying  his  rifle  down  and 
taking  out  his  hunting  knife,  he  walked  up  to  the 
beast  to  see  what  his  prize  was  like. 

"  Stooping  down,  he  saw  that  it  was  but  a  large 
well-grown  cub,  and  he  stood  looking  at  it  for  a 
moment,  when  a  sudden  feeling  of  danger  flashed 
into  his  mind.  A  cub — then  the  old  bears  must  be 
near  by;  he  turned  swiftly  to  get  and  reload  his 
rifle.  As  he  turned,  he  saw,  charging  upon  him 


338        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

from  the  direction  in  which  his  rifle  was  lying,  the 
mother  of  the  cub.  The  bear,  which  was  coming 
like  an  express  train,  was  not  seventy-five  yards 
away,  and  the  rifle  was  ten. 

11  Then  the  fellow  did  what  seemed  to  me  a 
mighty  plucky  thing.  He  knew  he  could  not  out 
strip  the  bear,  and  he  was  sure  that  if  he  were 
treed  that  would  be  the  end  of  it,  so  instead  of 
running  from  the  bear  he  tore  up  the  hill  to  meet 
her  face  to  face." 

"  Did  he  expect  to  get  to  the  rifle  first?  "  asked 
Roger,  full  of  interest. 

* '  He  thought  that  when  the  bear  saw  him  charg 
ing  for  her  it  would  cause  her  to  pause,  and  a  few 
seconds'  delay  would  enable  him  to  get  his  rifle  and 
he  ran  a  chance  of  dropping  her  in  her  tracks.  It 
was  his  only  hope.  But  the  brute  never  stopped 
in  her  rush,  and  when  the  hunter  reached  the  gun 
she  was  only  twenty  feet  away. 

"  Bringing  the  rifle  to  his  shoulder  with  a  single 
motion,  he  pumped  three  steel-jacketed  bullets  into 
her  at  point-blank  distance,  then,  throwing  his 
rifle  up,  he  caught  it  by  the  barrel,  prepared  to 
club  the  bear  over  the  head  with  an  aim  to  catch 
her  in  the  eyes  and  blind  her,  so  that  he  could 
make  a  get-away." 


CLAWED  BY  AN  ANGRY  BEAR  339 

"  That  was  plucky,"  said  the  boy,  "  to  face  a 
mad  bear  with  a  clubbed  gun. ' ' 

* '  Plucky  enough,  but  foolish.  He  knew  nothing 
of  the  strength  of  a  bear,  and  even  as  he  brought 
down  the  clubbed  rifle  with  all  his  force,  she  rose 
suddenly  upon  her  hind  legs  and  swept  away  the 
descending  gun  with  her  paw.  I  found  it  later, 
bent  almost  double  with  the  force  of  that  blow. 
The  hunter  jumped  aside,  but  as  the  bear  rushed 
past  she  threw  out  her  other  paw  with  claws  out 
stretched,  which,  catching  him  on  the  neck,  laid 
open  his  right  arm  from  shoulder  to  wrist. 

"  Dazed  and  incapacitated,  he  was  an  easy  mark 
for  the  bear,  who  turning,  with  a  growl  at  the  pain 
of  her  wounds  from  the  three  bullets,  seized  him  in 
her  teeth.  Then,  apparently  suffering  acutely 
herself,  she  dropped  him  to  give  a  vicious  bite  at 
the  blood  dripping  from  her  side,  where  one  of 
the  bullets  had  entered. 

* '  The  hunter,  who  had  been  thrown  several  feet 
when  the  bear  dropped  him,  was  still  game.  He 
staggered  up  with  some  vague  idea  of  finding  and 
using  the  rifle,  when,  with  an  angry  snort,  she 
rushed  at  him  again.  But  one  of  the  steel-coated 
messengers  of  death  had  found  a  vital  part  and  her 
eyes  were  growing  dim,  so  that  though  her  claws 


340        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

lacerated  his  thigh,  her  jaws  came  together  a  foot 
from  him,  and  in  her  overreaching  rush  she 
knocked  him  down  without  further  injury. 

"  There,  then,  crouched  bear  and  man,  almost 
within  striking  distance  of  each  other,  and  yet  both 
too  weak  to  get  up.  Prudence  bade  the  hunter  lie 
still,  but  seeing  that  the  eyes  of  the  bear  were 
glazing  fast,  he  thought  he  might  make  shift  to  de 
fend  himself  in  the  event  of  a  final  rush,  and  he 
reached  out  his  hand  for  his  hunting  knife,  which 
had  fallen  a  few  feet  away.  But  the  brute  was 
still  conscious  of  danger,  and  she  reared  with  a 
roar  of  pain  and  thundered  down  upon  the  man, 
who  struck  with  the  knife  as  she  fell  upon  him, 
the  blade  striking  the  snout,  the  tenderest  part  of 
the  whole  body.  She  buried  her  teeth  in  his 
shoulder,  but  relaxed  the  pressure  almost  instantly 
from  her  own  pain  and  rolled  over  him  leaving 
him  free. 

' '  Once  more  she  lurched  heavily  to  her  feet,  and 
the  man  lying  on  the  ground  in  a  frenzy  of  pain, 
closed  his  eyes,  only  hoping  that  the  end  might 
come  quickly.  Once  he  opened  them,  and  there, 
not  three  feet  away,  stood  the  bear,  apparently 
blind  from  the  approach  of  death,  rocking  and 
sawing  unsteadily  on  her  feet,  and  then  toppled 


CLAWED  BY  AN  ANGRY  BEAR  341 

over,  dying.  Three  or  four  times,  even  then,  she 
tried  to  rise,  but  fell  back  each  time  with  a  low 
growl,  her  bloody  jaws  snapping  with  fury 
scarcely  a  yard  from  the  hunter's  face,  but  the 
bullets  had  not  failed  to  do  their  work,  and  with  a 
last  roar  she  fell  back,  dead. 

"  The  hunter  declared,  but  is  not  sure 
whether  he  was  conscious  or  no,  that  hardly  had 
the  she-bear  fallen  dead,  than  out  from  the  woods 
stepped  another  immense  bear,  almost  twice  the 
size  of  the  female.  Quietly  he  walked  to  the  cub, 
and  smelt  it  with  a  growl,  next  smelt  the  body  of 
the  she-bear  with  another  growl,  and  with  his  hair 
bristling,  walked  to  where  the  hunter  was  lying. 
The  man  was  paralyzed  by  fear  and  pain  and  did 
not  move,  whereon  the  bear,  showing  no  hurry, 
shambled  into  the  woods  again  and  was  gone. 

"  The  whole  affair,  from  the  first  shooting  of 
the  cub  to  the  appearance  and  disappearance  of 
the  parent  bear,  had  not  taken  five  minutes,  and 
when  the  half-breed,  who  had  heard  the  shooting 
and  the  growls,  reached  the  place,  it  was  all  over. 
The  hunter,  dazed  and  scarcely  conscious,  was 
lying  beside  a  stone  with  the  dead  cub  a  few  feet 
behind  him  and  the  dead  mother  a  few  feet  in 
front  of  him.  Apparently  the  man  had  not  moved 


342        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

since  the  bear  died,  and  probably  was  not  aware 
of  his  escape,  but  was  lying  there,  awaiting  death 
in  a  most  horrible  form,  not  realizing  that  his  foe 
had  passed  beyond  revenge." 

"  But  how  did  he  get  to  you?  "  asked  the  boy. 

"  The  half-breed  brought  him,  as  I  told  you. 
In  some  unexplained  way  he  lifted  him  to  the 
saddle,  and  had  the  good  judgment  to  let  him  fall 
forward  on  the  neck  of  the  horse,  thereby  closing 
the  wounds  in  the  neck  and  shoulder,  which  were 
the  worst  of  all.  But  the  hunter  was  terribly 
lacerated,  for  the  claws  of  a  bear  rip  right  to  the 
bone,  sinews,  tendons,  veins,  everything  being 
shorn  clean  through. 

"  I  doctored  up  his  wounds  as  well  as  I  could, 
but  he  did  not  regain  consciousness  all  night,  and 
I  thought  he  would  never  pull  through.  But  just 
as  he  had  shown  plenty  of  pluck  in  his  fight  with 
the  bear,  so  he  also  showed  a  good  deal  of  vitality 
in  his  fight  with  death.  Though  time  was  very 
precious  to  us,  we  stayed  there  three  days  to  give 
him  a  chance,  and  then  we  sent  him  down  to 
Eampart." 

"  I  should  have  thought  that  the  ride  would 
kill  him, ' '  said  the  boy. 

"  There  was  certainly  a  chance  that  it  would," 


CLAWED  BY  AN  ANGRY  BEAR  343 

replied  the  topographer.  ' '  But  he  could  not  have 
gone  down  the  Kanuti  River  with  us,  and  he  could 
not  stay  up  there  alone  with  the  half-breed.  Then 
I  thought  there  was  less  danger  of  some  blood 
poisoning  or  infection  setting  in  if  he  was  some 
where  that  he  could  be  watched  by  a  doctor,  and 
the  journey  was  worth  the  risk. ' ' 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  of  him  afterwards?  " 

'  *  Oh,  yes.  He  is  recovering,  though,  of  course, 
he  will  never  be  the  same  man  again. ' ' 

"  That,"  mumbled  Roger,  his  voice  thick  with 
sleep,  "  was  a  close  shave,"  and  a  moment  later 
his  heavy  breathing  told  the  topographer  that  his 
audience  was  asleep. 

"He's  a  plucky  little  customer  himself,"  he 
commented,  as  he  left  the  tent. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

FIGHTING   FIEE   IN   THE   TUNDRA 

THE  next  day,  June  12th,  with  Eoger  at  the 
bow  and  Harry  at  the  stern  of  the  leading  canoe, 
they  started  down  the  Kanuti  River.  The  stream 
was  swift,  shallow,  and  full  of  boulders,  and  for 
the  first  couple  of  days  more  of  the  wort  was  done 
wading  in  the  stream  than  by  paddling.  The 
second  day,  particularly,  it  seemed  to  the  boy  that 
he  had  not  been  out  of  the  water  at  all  during  the 
fourteen  hours  of  the  march,  except  for  the  brief 
halt  at  noon. 

The  next  day,  however,  was  travel  of  the  kind 
that  he  liked.  Two  small  tributaries  of  the  Ka 
nuti,  mere  mountain  streams,  flowed  in  and  raised 
the  water  to  a  height  where  it  was  possible  to  shoot 
the  rapids  instead  of  wading  them,  carrying  the 
canoes.  Ever  since  the  canoe  slide  on  the  Cant- 
well,  Roger  had  felt  quite  proud  of  his  powers  as 
a  canoeist,  and  this  pride  was  considerably  height 
ened  as  he  found  how  able  he  was  to  handle  the 

344 


FIRE  IN  THE  TUNDRA         345 

boat  on  this  new  stream.  It  was  different,  too, 
for  while  the  first  set  of  rapids  had  been  a  torrent 
foaming  between  jagged  upstanding  crags  of  rock, 
this  was  a  swift  river  running  over  heaps  of 
boulders,  and  the  Indian  had  to  judge  by  the  swirl 
of  the  water  just  what  was  below. 

A  broad  valley,  through  which  the  river  wound 
in  a  very  crooked  way,  afforded  a  quick  day's 
journey,  but  bad  rapids  were  then  met  with,  which 
taxed  the  resources  of  the  party  to  the  utmost,  and 
proved  all  in  vain  to  prevent  the  boats  from  being 
swamped.  Twice  the  boats  went  over,  once  the 
leading  boat  to  Eoger's  great  chagrin,  and  the 
second  time  the  second  boat,  which  in  consequence 
made  the  boy  feel  much  better.  No  serious  harm 
resulted  as  the  supplies  were  always  packed  in 
watertight  bags.  There  was  a  fall  of  eight  hun 
dred  feet  in  the  thirty  miles  of  these  rapids,  so 
that,  as  Magee  said,  "  it  was  a  case  of  whistling 
for  brakes  all  the  time." 

The  mosquitoes  became  very  bad  in  the  lower 
reaches  of  the  river,  the  only  redeeming  feature  of 
which  part  of  the  trip  was  the  immense  abundance 
of  ducks  and  geese,  which,  being  shot,  were  a  wel 
come  and  toothsome  addition  to  the  larder.  With 
this  to  aid  the  quiet  progress,  the  party  soon  ar- 


346        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

rived  at  Arctic  City,  at  the  junction  of  the  Kanuti 
and  Koyukuk  rivers,  and  thence  one  day's  pad 
dling  up  the  latter  broad  stream  brought  them  to 
Bergman.  This  is  a  central  trading  post,  and 
there  again  they  secured  supplies  for  the  last 
stage  of  the  journey. 

As  it  was  already  June  23d,  and  the  hard 
est  stretch  was  yet  to  come,  little  time  was  lost 
at  Bergman,  and  three  days  later  the  voyagers 
crossed  the  Arctic  Circle  and  touched  at  Bettles, 
at  the  junction  of  the  Koyukuk  and  John  (or 
Totsenbet)  rivers.  There  Eoger  saw  the  last 
white  face  he  would  see,  other  than  the  members 
of  the  party,  until  he  had  crossed  the  great  Arctic 
Divide,  made  his  bow  to  the  not-distant  North 
Pole,  reached  the  frozen  ocean,  and  returned  to 
civilization. 

But  when  they  came  to  the  John  Eiver  and 
Roger  saw  the  force  of  the  waters  of  the  stream, 
and  learned  that  there  was  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  miles  of  up-stream  work  against  that 
current,  he  realized  that  all  his  previous  ex 
perience  of  labor  had  been  child's  play  compared 
to  it. 

"  That's  going  to  be  a  pretty  stiff  pull,  Mr. 
Rivers,  isn't  it?  "  said  Roger  to  the  geologist,  as 


FIRE  IN  THE  TUNDRA         347 

he  was  standing  by  the  edge  of  the  river  just  as 
the  boats  were  being  launched. 

"  It  would  be,  Doughty,"  was  the  answer, 
"  that  is,  if  it  wasn't  for  the  milking." 

"  Milking?  "  questioned  the  boy  in  surprise, 
doubting  if  he  had  heard  the  word  aright. 

Just  then  Magee  replied  over  his  shoulder. 

"  Yes,  milking,  of  course.  Didn't  you  know 
they  had  cows  here  to  do  all  the  work  Sure! 
You've  read  of  the  cleverness  of  ants?  "Well, 
they're  no  better  than  fools  compared  to  John 
Kiver  cows.  They  have  a  regular  system.  The 
cows  up  here  have  immensely  long  horns  and 
two  of  them  catch  the  end  of  one  horn  in  the 
bow  of  the  canoe,  and  another  one,  a  mooley 
cow,  shoves  behind,  and  there  you  are.  That's 
what  they  call  milking — milking  the  brush,  up 
here.  Don't  you  expect  to  go  up  the  John 
by  milking  the  brush?  "  he  added,  turning  to 
Rivers. 

"  Certainly,"  replied  the  geologist,  then,  see 
ing  the  lad's  confusion,  he  continued,  "  but  you 
mustn't  mind  Magee;  milking  the  brush  isn't 
quite  that.  It's  a  term  used  to  specify  that  way 
of  traveling  which  consists  of  pulling  the  canoes 
up  stream  by  the  boughs  of  branches  along  the 


348        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

bank.  You  see  the  John  Eiver  is  so  swift  that,  if 
we  were  to  depend  only  on  paddling  and  poling, 
progress  would  be  extremely  slow." 

"  But  how  about  tracking?  "  suggested  the  boy. 
1  i  What  is  to  prevent  the  canoes  being  pulled  along 
by  ropes  from  the  shore?  ' 

11  The  timber  and  brush  come  right  down  to 
the  water's  edge,"  was  the  reply.  "  There  are  no 
bars  and  level  banks  such  as  there  were  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  Ball  Eiver,  just  before  we  came 
to  the  portage,  and  of  course  it  is  almost  out  of 
the  question  to  pull  or  tow  a  canoe,  when  the 
banks  are  so  thick  that  you  would  have  to  cut 
a  trail  in  order  to  get  through  yourself.  The 
trees  and  undergrowth  overhang  the  river  for 
quite  a  distance.  Therefore  all  that  can  be  done 
is  to  pull  the  boats  up  along  the  branches,  hand 
over  hand,  one  man  poling  in  the  stern.  Of 
course,  every  few  yards  the  boats  get  entangled 
and  have  to  be  pushed  and  pulled  out.  It's  the 
only  way,  but  it's  back-breaking  work." 

It  was,  there  was  no  doubt  about  that,  and 
Eoger  added  another  chapter  to  his  ideas  of  what 
hard  work  meant.  The  current  of  the  river  was 
so  swift  that  it  was  useless  to  try  and  paddle  up 
against  it,  while  keeping  in  the  middle  of  the 


FIRE  IN  THE  TUNDRA         349 

stream,  the  banks  were  so  thick  and  wooded  that 
tracking  was  impossible,  and  "  milking  the 
brush  "  required  incredible  labor,  because  it 
meant  keeping  the  canoe  so  near  the  bank  that 
it  was  grounding  or  striking  snags  or  becoming 
entangled  in  roots  constantly,  or  misbehaving  it 
self  in  some  way. 

Then  to  make  a  change,  a  long  rapid  would 
appear,  and  the  only  way  to  negotiate  it  was  to 
lift  the  canoes  shoulder-high,  all  the  party  to 
gether  under  the  one  canoe,  and  climb  up  that 
rapid  with  the  ice  water  perhaps  up  to  the  waist, 
and  a  cruel,  drenching  spray  whipping  into  their 
faces.  In  the  meantime,  if  the  mosquito  veils 
were  thrown  back — and  few  things  are  more  un 
comfortable  than  a  wet  mosquito  veil  flopping 
about  the  face,  why,  then  those  torturing  pests 
got  in  a  full  day's  work;  the  while  that  a  hot 
Alaskan  summer  sun  blazed  above  them  and 
blistered  face,  arms,  and  neck,  exposed  alter 
nately  to  vivid  sun  and  icy  spray. 

On  July  5th,  the  spruce,  which  had  thinned  out 
rapidly  during  the  couple  of  days  preceding, 
came  to  a  sudden  end,  the  northern  limit  of  tim 
ber  having  been  reached.  Nothing  seemed  to  im 
press  on  Roger  so  clearly  the  fact  that  he  was 


350        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

now  in  the  Arctic  Circle  as  the  thought  that  he 
was  in  a  climate  so  rigorous  and  gale- swept  in 
winter  that  no  tree  could  grow.  A  few  stunted 
willow  bushes,  here  and  there,  still  remained, 
when  sheltered  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  but 
trees,  as  such,  worthy  of  the  name,  there  were 
none  of  any  sort  whatever. 

"  I  never  realized,"  said  Roger,  "  that  there 
was  no  timber  of  any  kind  in  the  far  north.  What 
do  the  Eskimos  burn  for  fuel?  " 

11  Have  you  ever  seen  pictures  of  stoves  or 
fireplaces  in  the  Eskimo  snow  hut?  "  was  the 
answer.  "  They  depend  on  the  heat  of  their 
own  bodies  in  a  hut  without  any  ventilation, 
on  the  flame  of  blubber  lamps,  and  occasionally, 
on  a  little  driftwood  which  may  have  come  down 
into  the  Arctic  Ocean  from  some  immense  stream 
like  the  Mackenzie,  which,  flowing  thousands  of 
miles,  has  passed  in  its  upper  reaches  through  a 
timbered  country." 

But  by  the  time  that  the  boy  had  reached  this 
northern  limit  of  spruce  he  had  lost  all  idea  of 
time.  The  days  and  nights  seemed  one  perpetual 
nightmare.  When  asleep  he  dreamed  that  he 
was  wading,  or  tracking,  or  poling,  and  when 
awake  he  felt  as  though  he  were  working  in  his 


FIRE  IN  THE  TUNDRA         351 

sleep.  It  seemed  to  him  that  he  had  spent  years 
and  years  on  an  icy  river,  and  that  fate  had  tied 
him  to  it  for  ever  and  ever.  By  the  time  that 
two  full  weeks  of  it  had  passed  by,  the  boy  no 
longer  had  any  thought  of  reaching  the  summit, 
that  this  toil  could  stop  was  a  thought  incredible, 
and  though  his  muscles,  stiffened  and  well-trained, 
continued  to  do  their  full  man's  share  of  the 
work,  the  mental  strain  was  intense. 

Rivers  and  Gersup  were  considerably  troubled 
over  the  fact  that  the  boy's  strength  showed  no 
signs  of  giving  way,  and  they  would  almost 
rather  have  seen  him  break  down  physically  than 
continue  his  work  doggedly,  yet  like  a  machine. 
It  became  hard,  toward  the  end  of  the  trip,  to 
make  him  answer  a  question,  and  it  would  have 
to  be  repeated  several  times  before  the  boy  could 
grasp  it.  Orders  regarding  the  work  he  seemed 
to  understand  at  once,  but  other  matters  fell  on 
deafened  ears. 

The  older  men  tried  to  sting  him  into  life  in 
many  ways.  They  attacked  his  pride,  they  en 
deavored  to  insult  him,  they  reasoned  with  him, 
but  there  was  no  response,  the  heavy  and  sunken 
eyes  regained  no  luster,  the  hard-set  jaw  never 
relaxed,  and  the  channels  of  speech  seemed  frozen. 


352        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

This  went  on  as  the  river  shallowed  until,  when 
the  John  had  become  so  small  that  further  work 
by  water  was  impossible,  Rivers  gave  word  for  a 
portage. 

But  the  chief  was  far  too  wise  a  leader  not  to 
be  prudent  as  well  as  urgent,  and  he  knew  that 
there  were  times  when  a  rest  would  be  wise  for 
most  of  the  party,  and  imperative  for  Roger. 
He  had  not  dared  to  give  anything  to  the  boy, 
because  of  the  need  of  travel  the  next  day,  but 
now  that  a  short  rest  was  in  sight,  he  mixed  up 
from  the  little  medicine  chest  a  sleeping  draught 
of  triple  strength,  and  made  the  boy  take  it  down. 
Through  the  entire  night  and  the  whole  of  the 
next  day  Roger  slept  unmoving,  and  when  even 
ing  came,  Rivers  and  Gersup  discussed  whether 
they  should  wake  him. 

"  Let  him  sleep,  if  he  wants  to,"  put  in  Magee, 
who  had  heard  the  talk;  "  sure  he  can't  be  get- 
tin'  into  any  harm  while  he's  asleep,  an'  if  it's 
rest  he  wants,  I  think  it's  better  not  to  wake 
him." 

"  But,  Magee,"  said  the  chief,  "  sometimes  a 
man  gets  into  one  of  those  sleeps  and  nothing 
will  rouse  him  after." 

11  Of  course,  there's  a  risk,  but  if  the  boy's 


FIRE  IN  THE  TUNDRA         353 

brain  needs  sleep  so  bad  as  all  that,  I  should 
think  the  shock  of  waking  him  would  be  bad." 

And  so  it  was  decided  to  let  the  lad  sleep  as 
long  as  he  would.  All  through  that  second  night 
he  slept,  though  it  was  almost  full  daylight  the 
whole  night  through,  and  all  the  next  morning, 
till  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when 
he  stirred,  looked  around  languidly,  and  fell  to 
sleep  again.  He  woke  at  five  o'clock,  and  sat 
right  up,  his  eye  clear  and  the  leaden  weight  upon 
his  tongue  loosened. 

The  men  crowded  round  with  questions,  and 
Roger  learned  that  they  had  reached  the  head  of 
the  pass,  but  he  had  retained  no  memory  what 
ever  of  the  last  ten  days  of  the  trip.  He  buckled 
to  and  ate  steadily  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  to 
the  huge  joy  of  the  cook,  and  then  curled  up  for 
some  more  sleep,  awakening  the  next  morning 
bright  and  chipper  as  though  he  were  in  Wash 
ington  before  the  trip  had  been  begun. 

On  July  17th,  therefore,  the  lad  being 
quite  himself  again,  three  days  after  their  ar 
rival  at  Anaktuvuk  Pass,  at  the  head  of  the  John 
River,  Rivers  gave  the  word  for  the  portage  to 
be  begun.  It  was  a  twelve-mile  portage  and 
hard  going,  for  though,  unlike  all  the  previous 


354        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

carries,  there  was  no  timber  to  intercept,  and 
through  which  a  trail  must  be  cut,  the  entire  work 
was  over  the  tundra. 

The  moss-plains  of  the  Arctic  slopes,  brilliant 
with  wild  flowers  and  fragrant  with  heather  and 
gorse,  which  surround  the  Polar  Seas  the  world 
around,  come  almost  first  in  the  list  of  objection 
able  travel.  Even  in  the  blazing  heat  of  a  sum 
mer  where  the  sun  shines  for  twenty- two  hours 
out  of  twenty-four  and  the  heat  is  nothing  short 
of  tropical,  two  feet  below  the  surface  the  spade 
would  touch  perpetual  frost,  a  factor  of  no  im 
portance  to  the  branching-rooted  tundra  moss. 
Centuries  of  centuries  of  growth  and  decay  have 
created  a  network  of  roots,  rotten,  spongy,  and 
wet,  so  that  walking  over  it  resembles  treading 
on  soaked  sponges  two  feet  deep. 

But  that  nothing  may  remain  to  be  thought  of 
in  the  viciousness  of  that  footing,  every  six  or 
eight  inches  apart,  tufts  of  grass  and  moss,  known 
as  "  niggerheads, "  hard  and  round,  stick  up  a 
foot  high.  If  the  unwary  traveler  decides  to 
walk  on  these  as  on  the  stones  of  a  ford  cross 
ing,  he  finds  them  slippery  and  insecure,  they 
turn  under  his  foot,  and  give  him  the  experience 
of  a  twisted  ankle;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  if  he 


FIRE  IN  THE  TUNDRA         355 

should  endeavor  to  walk  between  them  he  runs 
a  fair  chance  of  tripping  upon  those  hummocks 
and  falling  headlong  in  the  oozy  moss.  Indeed, 
he  can  hardly  walk  at  all. 

The  portage  took  two  days,  Eivers  making  a 
forced  march,  and  the  cook  was  left  at  the  new 
camp  with  the  first  day's  supplies,  the  carry  be 
ing  to  Cache  Lake,  a  large  slough  which  forms 
the  headwaters  of  the  Anaktuvuk  River.  Early 
.the  next  morning  the  rest  of  the  party  returned 
to  the  old  camp,  where  they  had  left  the  canoes, 
to  bring  them  over  to  the  Lake  for  their  trip 
down  to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

Towards  evening,  as  they  were  returning,  and 
had  just  ascended  a  little  knoll,  Roger  hurried  up 
to  the  chief  of  the  party. 

"  Mr.  Rivers,"  he  said,  "  there  seems  to  be  a 
lot  of  smoke  over  there,  in  the  direction  of  the 
camp. ' ' 

The  geologist  looked  up  sharply  and  then 
turned. 

11  Quick,  boys,"  he  said,  "  take  the  boats  to 
that  pond  ':  —the  tundra  was  dotted  with  small 
stretches  of  water — "  and  anchor  them  in  the 
middle.  The  tundra  is  on  fire,  and  if  it's  going 
to  spread  the  boats  must  be  saved.  Harry,  you 


356        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

go  ahead  to  the  camp."  He  dropped  his  pack 
and  broke  into  a  run. 

Bulson,  grasping  the  situation,  stuck  one  of  the 
punting  poles  deep  into  the  shallow  bottom  and 
made  fast  the  canoes  to  it  in  the  middle  of  the 
slough.  Then,  with  the  rest  of  the  men  he  fol 
lowed  the  Indian  and  the  chief  for  the  camp. 
Roger's  light  weight  and  his  training  on  the 
track  had  made  him  a  good  runner,  but  he  did 
not  try  to  outdistance  the  other  men,  and  of 
course  Harry  was  out  of  sight. 

Plunging  over  and  through  the  tundra,  how 
ever,  with  veins  swollen  almost  to  bursting  with 
the  heavy  going,  the  men  kept  on,  no  one  speak 
ing,  though  once,  as  a  sheet  of  flame  shot  up, 
Gersup  pointed  with  his  finger.  It  was  a  wel 
come  sight,  on  topping  a  small  rise,  to  see  in  the 
distance  that  two  of  the  three  tents  were  still 
standing,  though  ringed  round  with  a  smolder 
ing  fire;  in  the  foreground  the  blackened  figures 
of  the  cook  and  the  Indian,  working  for  their 
lives,  and  the  chief  just  pounding  into  the  camp. 
With  never  a  pause,  save  when  some  fellow 
tripped  and  fell,  the  men  tore  over  the  rough 
ground  until  they  reached  the  flames.  Under  the 
vigorous  work  of  all  hands  an  impression  began 


FIRE  IN  THE  TUNDRA         357 

to  be  made,  and  two  hours  later  the  fire  was  under 
control. 

' '  How  did  it  happen,  George  ? ' '  the  chief  asked. 

Twice  the  cook  tried  to  answer,  but  the  pun 
gent  smoke  and  the  exertion  had  made  him  al 
most  speechless,  and  he  could  only  whisper 
hoarsely.  Though  the  fire  was  officially  out, 
every  few  minutes  a  puff  of  smoke  would  reveal 
a  smoldering  root  of  moss,  and  all  night  through 
two  men  watched,  two  hours  apiece,  fo  see  that 
it  did  not  break  out  anew.  And  these  men 
never  had  five  minutes'  quietude,  for  the  fire, 
which  had  been  burning  unseen  in  the  network 
of  roots  for  hours,  would  suddenly  send  up  a 
flame,  and  the  whole  line  of  that  smoldering 
glow  would  have  to  be  beaten  and  drenched 
out. 

As  the  cook  described  it  later,  the  fire  did  not 
appear  for  over  an  hour  after  the  party  had 
left,  and  when  the  smoke  first  arose,  he  did  not 
pay  much  attention  to  it,  merely  thinking  that 
it  was  one  of  the  circles  of  "  smudges  "  which 
had  been  lighted  the  night  before  all  round  the 
camp  to  keep  the  mosquitoes  away,  and  which 
had  not  been  properly  put  out.  He  looked  up  a 
couple  of  times,  but  not  for  another  hour  did  he 


358        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

notice  any  change,  and  then  he  saw  a  faint  vapor 
rising  near  the  first. 

Thinking  by  this  time  that  it  might  be  as  well 
to  go  and  keep  the  fire  from  spreading,  he 
strolled  over  to  the  column  of  smoke.  But  he 
had  not  come  within  thirty  feet  of  the  place 
when  he  found  that  he  was  walking  over  a  glow 
ing  furnace,  the  tundra  being  red  hot  between 
the  green  moss  above,  which  would  not  burn,  and 
the  wet  roots  below.  Each  step  he  took,  of  course, 
put  out  the  fire  under  his  footstep  by  pressing 
the  glowing  moss  into  the  substratum  of  water, 
but  it  created  a  current  of  air  to  the  moss  around 
that  footstep,  and  looking  behind  he  saw  smoke 
arising  from  every  impress  of  his  foot. 

At  this  point  he  became  alarmed,  and  instead 
of  making  a  circle  around  the  camp  of  moss 
thoroughly  beaten  down  and  soaked,  he  started 
to  try  to  beat  out  the  existing  fire,  an  almost 
hopeless  task,  for  the  reason  that  the  flames 
crept  under  the  surface  unseen  and  almost  unfelt, 
only  betraying  their  presence  by  a  faint  film  of 
vapor.  By  the  time  that  he  realized  that  he 
should  have  devoted  his  energy  to  making  a  fire 
guard  around  the  camp,  the  tundra  was  burning 
too  close  to  the  tents  for  him  to  be  able  to  dare 


FIRE  IN  THE  TUNDRA         359 

stop  checking  it  long  enough  to  start  protective 
remedies. 

In  spite  of  all  his  labor,  however,  the  fire 
reached  one  of  the  smaller  tents,  where  some  of 
the  maps  were  kept,  and  the  dry  canvas  and  mos 
quito  netting,  catching  alight  suddenly,  went  up 
in  the  air  as  though  it  had  been  a  fire  balloon, 
and  blazing  fragments  of  the  tent,  falling  on  the 
tundra  about,  gave  source  to  a  dozen  more  fires. 
George  rushed  over  the  red-hot  tundra  and  car 
ried  the  maps,  which,  though  scorched,  were  not 
badly  injured,  to  the  main  tent,  and  then  devoted 
himself  to  encircling  that  tent  thoroughly  with 
beaten  and  wetted  moss,  watching  to  see  that 
no  spark  crossed  and  that  no  treacherous  fire 
crept  along  between  the  roots  of  the  moss. 

Matters  were  at  this  point  when  the  Indian  ap 
peared,  and  with  one  man  watching  the  tents  and 
the  other  beating  out  the  fire  progress  was  made, 
the  danger  being  entirely  averted  when  the  whole 
party  arrived.  The  peril  over,  the  other  mem 
bers  of  the  party  went  back  for  the  canoes,  bring 
ing  them  into  the  camp  late  in  the  evening. 

The  next  morning  all  boarded  the  canoes  to 
cross  Cache  Lake,  which,  connected  with  a  score 
of  other  sloughs,  led  to  the  initial  streams  of  the 


360        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Anaktuvuk,  the  main  tributary  of  the  Colville, 
which  latter  river  flows  into  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
They  had  paddled  perhaps  two  miles  when  the 
Indian  gave  a  guttural  grunt  and  pointed  to  the 
shore  that  they  had  left.  There,  rising  high  in 
the  clear  air,  was  a  column  of  faint  blue  smoke. 

"  They  say  you  can't  put  out  a  tundra  fire," 
said  Rivers,  "  and  I  begin  to  believe  it." 

11  Then  how  long  do  you  suppose  that  will 
burn?  "  asked  Roger. 

"  Until  the  winter  puts  about  a  foot  of  snow 
over  it,  I  suppose,"  the  geologist  answered,  "  and 
it'll  hate  to  quit  even  then." 


CHAPTER  XIX 

RACING  A   POLAR   WINTER 

THE  comparatively  flat  plateau  country,  dotted 
with  sloughs,  on  which  the  party  had  embarked 
after  leaving  the  camp  on  the  tundra,  where  they 
had  been  forced  to  fight  with  fire  to  save  their  pos 
sessions,  lasted  but  a  short  while  on  the  journey. 
Before  evening  the  edge  of  the  table-land  was 
neared  and  the  scattering  rivulets  drained  into 
a  narrow  and  swift  stream,  which  Roger  learned 
was  the  Anaktuvuk.  Rivers,  though  conservative 
in  manner  as  always,  was  obviously  delighted  at 
the  thought  that  all  the  hard  up-stream  labor 
was  at  an  end,  with  the  expedition  well  ahead  of 
its  time,  and  many  important  details,  topograph 
ical  and  geological,  discovered. 

It  was  a  matter  of  absolute  ease  to  float  down 
the  smoothly  flowing  Anaktuvuk,  and  for  the  first 
two  days  the  only  disadvantage  to  life  were  the 
clouds  of  mosquitoes.  But  the  third  day  these 
pests  disappeared  in  time  to  allow  the  voyagers 

361 


362        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

to  pay  due  attention  to  a  troubled  piece  of  water, 
as  the  stream  shot  down  the  northern  slope  of  the 
Arctic  Eockies  through  gorges  and  canyons  of 
no  little  height. 

The  pitch  of  the  stream  Eoger  saw  to  be  very 
great,  but  his  skill  as  a  canoeist  was  not  heavily 
drawn  upon,  since  the  bed  of  the  stream  was 
little  impeded,  save  for  a  few  boulders  at  scat 
tered  intervals.  But  despite  the  smoothness  of 
the  stream,  the  banks  overhung  the  river  so  far 
as  to  cause  a  most  unpleasant  sensation  of  fear. 
It  seemed  to  the  boy  every  minute  as  though  the 
pendent  masses  of  earth  and  rock  would  fall  and 
overwhelm  them,  and  the  boy  could  tell,  from  the 
anxious  glances  cast  overhead  by  Rivers,  that 
the  same  thought  was  disturbing  the  chief  of 
the  party. 

About  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  third 
day  they  ran  through  a  long  gorge  of  this  under 
cut  character,  and  one,  moreover,  from  which  lit 
tle  trickling  muddy  streamlets  showed  that  the 
frozen  ground  was  thawing  under  the  hot  August 
sun.  Roger,  as  usual,  was  in  the  leading  boat 
with  Rivers  and  Bulson,  the  Indian  being  in  the 
stern.  Suddenly  the  boy  heard  a  warning  cry 
from  the  other  boat,  and  looking  overhead,  saw 


RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER     363 

a  mass  of  snow  and  earth  detach  itself  from  the 
top  of  the  cliff  four  hundred  feet  above  them 
and  thunder  down  directly  for  the  boat. 

Simultaneously  the  boy  felt  Harry  reach  for 
ward  for  a  long  stroke  and,  turning,  saw  Rivers 
dive  from  the  boat.  Bulson,  who  was  also  pad 
dling,  put  his  superb  muscle  into  his  stroke,  and 
though  Roger  felt  like  following  his  chief's 
policy  and  taking  to  the  water,  he  stuck  to  his 
post  and  made  his  paddle  bite  hard  on  the  water. 
The  canoe  sprang  ahead  like  a  cannon  ball,  but 
a  second  later,  with  a  dull  roar  the  landslide 
struck,  just  the  edge  of  it  catching  the  boat. 
Roger  was  conscious  of  a  grinding  crash,  and 
then  a  blank. 

When  he  came  to  his  senses  a  few  minutes  later 
he  found  himself  stretched  upon  the  bank  and 
Rivers  bending  over  him.  He  lay  still  for  a  mo 
ment  and  then  became  deathly  sick,  noting  the 
looks  of  concern  on  the  faces  of  the  party.  In  a 
few  moments  he  felt  better  and  tried  to  sit  up, 
but  Bulson  placed  his  large  hand  on  the  boy's 
shoulder  and  bade  him  be  still. 

"  Where's  Harry?  "  was  Roger's  first  question, 
his  last  impression  before  he  went  under  with  the 
ruins  of  the  canoe  having  been  that  of  seeing  a 


364        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

piece  of  rock  falling  straight  for  his  comrade's 
head. 

"  All  right,"  answered  the  Indian  composedly; 
"  jump  heap  quick,  though." 

"  You  certainly  did,  Harry,"  said  another  of 
the  members  of  the  party.  "  I  could  have  sworn 
that  the  rock  hit  you." 

"  No  hit  at  all,"  was  the  quiet  reply. 

"And  Bulson?  " 

"  Bulson  liked  it,"  broke  in  Magee;  "  sure  the 
whole  Eocky  Mountains  could  fall  on  him,  an' 
he'd  like  it  for  a  regular  exercise  before 
breakfast." 

"  I  guess  I'm  all  right,  too,"  said  Eoger,  and 
seeing  his  anxiety  to  sit  up,  they  let  him  rise.  He 
patted  himself  all  over  and  then  laughed.  "  I 
suppose  I'd  feel  it  if  anything  was  broken,"  he 
said,  "  so  it  must  be  0.  K."  He  got  on  his  feet. 

"  Did  you  get  out  of  it  all  right,  Mr.  Eivers?  " 
went  on  the  boy,  turning  to  his  chief.  "I'm  not 
sure,  but  I  think  I  saw  you  dive." 

11  Yes,"  answered  the  geologist,  "  and  it's 
lucky  I  did,  for  one  of  the  rocks  struck  the  very 
spot  where  I  was  sitting.  I  thought  it  was  com 
ing,  and  that's  why  I  jumped.  You're  sure  you 
feel  all  right?  " 


RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER     365 

"  Sure,"  said  the  boy.  "  I  lost  my  wind,  that's 
about  all." 

Eivers  smiled.  "  You're  lucky,"  he  said,  "  in 
having  been  stooping  over  when  the  slide  struck, 
because  if  it  had  taken  you  in  the  ribs  or  chest 
instead  of  the  back,  you'd  have  had  some  internal 
injury  for  sure.  But  since  it  struck  you  in  the 
back,  and  you  don't  feel  any  special  pain,  your 
spine  hasn't  been  hurt  and  nothing  else  can  be, 
you  must  be  all  right." 

"I  suppose  the  canoe  is  smashed!"  the  boy 
said  questioningly. 

"  The  boat's  at  the  bottom  of  the  river,  with  a 
few  tons  of  earth  and  rock  and  snow  on  top 
of  it." 

Roger's  expression  changed  suddenly. 

"  But  the  maps,  the  plane  table,  all  the  work!  " 
he  exclaimed,  "  you  don't  mean  that  everything 
is  lost!  " 

"  Do  you  suppose,"  answered  the  chief,  "  that 
I  should  be  satisfied  if  those  were  gone?  " 

"  Then  how  were  they  saved?  I  don't  under 
stand,"  put  in  the  boy,  mystified. 

"  I  grabbed  the  oilskin  bag  with  the  maps 
when  I  went  over  the  side,"  replied  Eivers, 
"  and  Bulson  hurled  the  plane  table  backwards 


366        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

over  his  head,  so  that  it  fell  in  the  water  for  the 
other  boat  to  pick  up.  But  all  the  instruments 
are  gone,  of  course,  and  a  good  many  of  our 
specimens. ' ' 

"It's  a  good  thing,"  put  in  the  topographer, 
' '  that  I  made  a  little  duplicate  for  my  own  col 
lection.  ' ' 

"  Yes,"  answered  the  chief,  "  it  might  be  a 
whole  lot  worse  than  it  is.  It's  a  mighty  for 
tunate  thing  that  no  one  was  badly  hurt." 

"  And  I'm  mighty  glad,"  said  Roger,  "  that  my 
camera  and  all  the  negatives  were  in  the  other 
canoe.  But  now  that  we  've  only  got  one  boat,  how 
shall  we  get  down  the  rest  of  the  way?  ' 

"  In  the  boat.  We  shall  have  to  throw  every 
thing  away  except  what  we  can't  do  without,  and 
live  on  short  rations.  One  of  the  guns  is  left, 
and  there  are  plenty  of  fish  in  the  river,  so 
we  probably  will  get  along  all  right  until  we 
strike  the  Eskimo  settlement  on  the  delta  of  the 
river. ' ' 

"  And  if  we  don't  strike  it?  "  asked  Eoger. 

"  Well,  if  we  don't,  you'll  be  pretty  hungry. 
But  we'll  strike  it,  all  right,  you'll  see." 

So  the  party  proceeded  to  lighten  their  only 
canoe.  Everything  wHich  was  of  weight  and 


RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER     367 

not  absolutely  essential  was  cached  and  a  cairn 
built  over  it,  not  with  any  intention  of  coming 
back,  but  so  that  it  should  be  available  if  any 
other  traveler  should  ever  pass  that  way.  Since 
it  was  so  difficult  to  transport  provisions  and 
camp  conveniences  at  such  a  distance,  it  was  felt 
that  it  would  be  sheer  wickedness  to  let  anything 
be  destroyed. 

"  But  people  might  steal  it!  "  exclaimed  the 
boy. 

"  To  take  what  you  need  isn't  stealing  in  this 
country,"  answered  the  geologist.  "  You  are 
supposed  to  help  yourself  if  you  are  in  need,  and 
you  are  expected  to  give  to  the  uttermost  if  you 
find  any  one  else  in  need.  This  part  of  the  world 
is  too  far  away  from  civilization  for  any  *  dog 
eat  dog  '  methods.  Here,  being  uncivilized,  men 
are  more  or  less  charitably  disposed  toward  each 
other. ' ' 

"  That's  a  cynical  speech,  Elvers,"  said  the 
topographer. 

"  Cynical  or  not,  it's  true,"  the  chief  an 
swered. 

"  Sure,  it's  true,"  commented  Magee,  who  had 
been  listening.  "  If  I'm  hungry  in  a  big  modern 
city,  and  I  open  a  man's  door,  walk  to  his  pantry, 


368        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

feed  myself  and  a  dozen  hungry  men;  and  what's 
more,  walk  away  with  enough  provisions  for  a 
month,  where  would  I  land?  ' 

"  In  jail,"  said  Roger. 

"  Sure,  an'  I  would.  But  that's  what  you  can 
do  out  here." 

"  Well,"  said  the  chief,  "  I  wish  I  were  sure 
of  being  able  to  do  it  at  Nigaluk. ' ' 

Travel,  however,  was  very  different  in  the  one 
over-loaded  canoe,  and  Rivers  was  not  willing  to 
allow  any  chances  to  be  taken.  The  slightest  evi 
dence  of  shoal,  rapid,  or  boulders  meant  wading. 
For  the  next  three  days,  therefore,  two  men,  each 
at  one  of  the  bows  of  the  canoe,  waded  down  the 
stream,  finding  out,  with  their  shins  mainly,  where 
were  boulders  near  enough  to  the  surface  of  the 
water  to  strike  the  canoe. 

On  the  second  day  of  this  sort  of  work,  more 
over,  the  temperature  dropped  fifty- two  degrees 
in  about  six  hours,  and  from  a  hot  sun  and  humid 
air  with  a  thermometer  at  eighty-eight  degrees 
at  noon,  by  dusk  it  was  only  four  degrees  above 
freezing  with  a  driving  gale  and  a  stinging  rain. 
While  many  camp  conveniences  had  been  left  be 
hind  to  lighten  the  canoe,  a  strip  of  canvas  had 
been  retained,  and  this  was  propped  up  with  wil- 


RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER     369 

low  sticks  in  such  wise  as  to  keep  some  of  the 
rain  off. 

But  through  the  night  the  gale  howled  from  the 
north,  and  the  rain  drove  in  with  the  sharpness 
of  a  whip-lash,  so  that  the  first  faint  light  of 
dawn  found  every  one  ready  for  the  start,  as  at 
least  it  was  warmer  moving  about  than  lying 
under  that  pitiless  sky.  The  only  gleam  of  com 
fort  was  that  it  gave  one  day's  respite  from  the 
eternal  mosquitoes.  The  second  day  the  norther 
abated,  and  fair  weather  returned,  bringing  with 
it,  of  course,  the  close  personal  attention  of  the 
mosquitoes  of  the  lower  tundra,  though  these  were 
rapidly  thinning  out. 

A  couple  of  days  of  smooth  water  enabled  the 
use  of  paddles  and  fair  time  was  made,  but  after 
the  junction  with  the  Telugu  Eiver  more  shallow 
rapids  and  boulders  were  encountered,  leading  to 
more  days  of  wading,  continuing  until  they 
struck  the  main  stream  of  the  Colville,  a  river 
with  a  big  head  of  water.  But  these  various  dif 
ficulties  had  delayed  matters  considerably,  and 
not  until  August  10th  did  the  divergence  of  the 
channels  of  the  river  show  that  the  delta  of  the 
Colville  was  reached,  where  they  hoped  to  find  the 
Eskimo  village  of  Nigaluk. 


370        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  What  kind  of  a  place  is  it?  "  asked  Eoger, 
as  they  encamped  for  the  night. 

"  It  is  the  metropolis  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,"  said 
Eivers  with  a  smile;  "  the  biggest  city  between 
Point  Barrow  and  Hudson's  Bay." 

The  boy  was  not  taken  in  by  the  description, 
for  he  had  a  lively  remembrance  of  Alaskan  cen 
ters  of  population,  and  knew  that  anything  more 
than  four  huts  was  considered  as  a  post  of  no 
small  importance,  while  one  hut,  all  by  itself,  was 
deemed  worthy  of  a  place  on  the  map.  But 
though  he  did  not  expect  a  large  place,  he  watched 
eagerly  enough  the  next  day  for  this  Arctic  city, 
wondering  what  kind  of  houses  would  be  built  to 
withstand  the  rigors  of  an  Arctic  winter. 

But  the  solitary  canoe  went  on  and  on,  up  this 
channel  and  down  another,  and  still  no  village 
was  seen.  All  the  next  two  days  the  party 
searched,  but  to  no  purpose;  apparently  the  Arc 
tic  metropolis  was  not  there.  The  matter  was 
extremely  serious,  for  the  provisions  were  almost 
exhausted,  and  on  the  evening  of  August  12th 
the  wind  switched  again  to  the  northward,  and 
the  first  of  the  winter's  snows  hurled  itself  at 
them. 

"  If  this  is  the  middle  of  August!  "  exclaimed 


RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER     371 

Roger,  shivering,  "  what  must  it  be  like  here 
in  the  middle  of  January?  ' 

"  Nobody  knows  exactly,"  was  the  geologist's 
reply,  ' '  for  no  white  man  has  ever  wintered  here. 
We  shall  be  the  first  unless  we  find  Nigaluk  in  a 
hurry.  And  I  doubt  if  we  can  spare  the  time, 
so  to-morrow  we  will  have  to  go  down  this  chan 
nel  to  the  ocean.  I  don't  like  this  weather,  for 
if  the  winter  sets  in  early  we  may  be  caught  even 
yet." 

But  when,  the  next  day,  the  party  arrived  at 
Harrison  Bay,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  Roger's 
heart  sank  within  him  at  the  prospect.  Cold, 
bleak,  and  gray,  the  waters  of  the  Arctic  Ocean 
stretched  before  him,  a  steady  swell  breaking  on 
the  tundra  shores  that  line  it  without  a  break 
for  hundreds  of  miles.  The  wind,  blowing  from 
the  north,  was  kicking  up  a  vicious,  snappy  sea, 
the  tops  of  the  waves  showing  their  teeth,  and 
upon  the  horizon  the  white  blink  of  the  ice. 

Bad  weather,  a  choppy  sea,  an  Arctic  winter 
setting  in,  and  nothing  but  an  overloaded  Peter- 
boro  canoe  to  hold  seven  men,  it  was  a  bad  out 
look  for  the  party.  It  was  over  two  hundred 
miles  to  Point  Barrow  and  the  time  of  storms 
was  at  hand.  Rivers  called  the  men  together. 


372        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

"  Boys,"  lie  said,  "  so  far  the  trip  has  been 
very  successful,  but  owing  to  that  pesky  land 
slide  on  the  Anaktuvuk,  with  the  loss  of  a  boat, 
it  looks  as  though  we  were  going  to  have  a  tight 
run  for  home,  and  we  shall  have  to  show  a  burst 
of  speed.  Now  there  are  only  three  possible 
things  to  do,  and  I'm  going  to  put  them  before 
you  and  see  what  you  think  about  it,  be 
cause  whatever  is  done  must  be  done  without 
delay. ' ' 

"  And  what  are  those  three?  "  asked  Gersup,  as 
second  in  command  of  the  party. 

"  The  first  of  these  is  to  make  a  camp  here, 
and  to  chase  up  and  down  the  various  channels 
of  this  delta  until  we  find  Nigaluk.  If  we  lo 
cate  it,  we  can  get  provisions  and  boats,  or  if  the 
weather  is  bad,  dogs  and  sleds ;  and,  by  one  means 
or  the  other,  can  get  to  Point  Barrow,  or  even 
down  as  far  as  Cape  Smyth.  The  objection  to 
that  is  that  we  have  no  definite  data  as  to  where 
Nigaluk  is.  It  may  not  be  on  this  river  at  all, 
but  on  some  other  stream  flowing  into  the  ocean 
near  by,  which  has  been  confused  with  the 
Colville." 

"  Not  only  that,  Mr.  Rivers,"  answered  Ger 
sup,  "  but  the  channels  of  this  delta  may  have 


RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER     373 

changed  and  these  Eskimo  settlements  are  not 
very  permanent,  in  any  event." 

"  That's  true,"  rejoined  the  chief.  "  Well,  it 
is  obvious  that  the  canoe  is  not  enough  for  us  to 
get  to  Point  Barrow,  but  it  might  serve  to  carry 
provisions,  so  that  if  we  could  track  along  the 
shore,  with,  say,  one  man  in  the  boat  to  keep  her 
out  of  the  surf,  it  might  be  possible  to  get  there, 
though,  with  rounding  the  indentations  of  the 
land,  it  would  be  over  three  hundred  miles.  What 
do  you  think,  Harry?  " 

The  Indian  shook  his  head. 

"  No  can  do,"  he  said,  "  wind  drive  boat  on 
shore.  Smash." 

"  The  only  thing  that's  left  then,"  the  chief  of 
the  party  continued,  "is  to  pack  the  entire  dis 
tance,  depending  for  food  on  what  we  can  catch 
or  shoot.  I  suppose  we'd  have  to  portage  the 
canoe  because  there  are  several  small  streams 
along  the  way.  Of  course,  in  a  couple  of  weeks, 
the  frosts  will  set  in,  and  the  tundra  won't  be  so 
bad  to  travel  over.  But  it's  a  long  way." 

"  It's  the  longest  way,  but  the  surest,"  said 
Gersup;  "  as  long  as  we  don't  run  short  of  pro 
visions.  How  about  it,  George?  " 

' i  Not  counting  anything  you  bring  in, ' '  replied 


374        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

the  cook,  "  I  can  give  you  rations  for  ten  or 
twelve  days.  But  there  seem  to  be  signs  of 
caribou,  and  though  the  geese  and  ducks  are  thin 
ning  out,  they  are  probably  good  for  a  couple  of 
weeks  yet,  before  all  are  gone.  Then  there's  al 
ways  fish.  If  everything  goes  right,  we  ought  to 
be  able  to  make  it." 

"  Very  well  then,"  decided  Rivers,  "  this  is 
what  we  will  do.  Unpack  the  canoe,  let  Harry 
and  Doughty  take  provisions  for  two  days,  and 
with  the  canoe  light,  spend  every  minute  of  day 
light  searching  for  this  place  Nigaluk,  returning 
to  camp  by  nightfall  the  day  after  to-morrow,  if 
they  have  not  found  it.  In  the  meantime  we  will 
do  some  hunting  and  fishing,  and  try  to  build  up 
a  store  of  provisions." 

"  But  how  shall  we  be  sure  of  finding  you 
again?  "  queried  Eoger.  "  If  this  Nigaluk  is  so 
hard  to  find  and  the  channels  of  this  river  are 
a  regular  maze,  we  might  lose  the  camp,  and  then 
we  would  be  stranded  without  any  grub  and  with 
out  a  gun,  and  you  would  be  left  without  a  boat." 

"  We'll  keep  a  big  smudge  going,  of  course," 
said  the  chief;  "  I  had  thought  of  that.  Now  you 
two  had  better  turn  in,  and  we'll  unpack  the 
canoe  and  get  it  ready.  I'll  have  you  called  early 


RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER     375 

so  that  you  can  have  breakfast  and  start  off 
even  before  it  gets  light,  because  for  a  few  miles, 
anyway,  we  know  Nigaluk  isn't  there." 

The  next  morning,  before  it  was  light,  Harry 
and  Roger  were  in  the  canoe,  and  they  started 
off  on  their  hunt  for  Nigaluk,  up  this  channel  and 
down  the  other.  Harry  was  paddling  for  all  he 
was  worth,  and  the  boy  found  it  hard  labor  to 
keep  up,  but  at  their  noon  stop  nothing  had  been 
found.  As  it  was  growing  dusk,  however,  the 
Indian  gave  a  grunt  and  pointed  ahead,  and 
Eoger,  giving  a  shout  of  joy,  saw  before  him  the 
outlines  of  a  structure.  But  on  arrival,  they 
found  nothing  but  an  Eskimo  grave,  erect  on 
four  driftwood  spars.  Near  by  a  tiny  channel 
meandered  through  what  appeared  to  be  an 
island,  and  though  it  was  now  almost  dark,  Harry 
turned  into  this,  and  in  a  few  minutes  there 
sprang  into  view  a  group  of  not  less  than  twenty 
huts. 

But  no  dogs  barked  as  they  came  near,  no  fires 
smoked,  no  boats  lay  on  the  beach,  and  Harry, 
even  before  they  landed,  gave  a  disappointed 
grunt. 

"  Heap  gone,"  he  said,  then  as  his  keen  eye 
discerned  through  the  shadows  evidences  of  re- 


376        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

cent  occupation,  he  added,  * '  not  gone  long !  ' '  He 
stooped  down  as  they  landed,  and  picked  up  a 
little  fish,  only  a  few  inches  long.  "  This  caught 
to-day,"  he  said. 

Roger's  heart  gave  a  bound. 

"  Then  they  can't  be  far  away,"  he  answered. 

"  Not  far.  Find  to-morrow,"  and  the  Indian 
went  on  to  explain  to  the  boy  the  usually  slow 
movements  of  the  Eskimo,  and  their  readiness  to 
camp  every  few  miles.  He  pointed  out  also  that 
the  channel  through  which  they  had  come  had 
an  abandoned  look,  and  that  therefore  the  route 
to  this  camp  must  have  been  in  the  other  direc 
tion.  Since  winter  was  drawing  on,  moreover, 
he  argued  that  the  natives  would  not  be  going  up 
the  river,  and  therefore,  if  they  followed  the 
other  channel  and  turned  seaward  the  next  day, 
they  might  overtake  the  Eskimo. 

This  was  a  stern  chase,  and  Harry  routed  the 
boy  out  when  it  was  still  pitch  dark,  and  they 
started  slowly  down  the  other  channel,  looking  for 
the  first  turn  seaward.  Just  as  the  first  faint 
gray  showed  in  the  sky,  the  opening  appeared 
and  the  canoe  shot  down  it.  Dawn  is  very 
gradual  in  those  latitudes,  and  steadily  the  light 
grew  clear  and  the  canoe  began  going  through 


Photograph  by  U.S.G.S. 

ESKIMO  SAVIORS. 

A  group  of  the  tribe  that  took  the  party  in  their  umiaks, 
near  the  prized  canoe. 


Photograph  liy   C.S.G.S. 

POINTING  AWAY  FROM  WINTER. 

The  Eskimo  grave  that  led  the  party  to  the  village,  and 
thence  to  rescue  and  safety. 


RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER     377 

the  water  like  an  express  train.  Confident  in  his 
own  idea,  Harry  turned  neither  to  right  nor  left 
but  made  the  light  boat  fairly  fly. 

By  midday  Roger  was  ravenous,  but  the  Indian 
shook  his  head  when  a  moment's  stop  was  sug 
gested  and  an  hour  later,  when  the  boy  was  ready 
to  drop,  they  turned  into  a  large  inlet  and  saw 
ahead  of  them  a  party  of  Eskimo  in  their  umiaks, 
eleven  boats  in  all,  each  containing  from  three  to 
six  persons.  The  umiaks,  large  skin-covered 
boats  made  for  the  Arctic  Ocean  fishing,  are  ex 
tremely  staunch  and  fairly  swift,  but  as  com 
pared  to  a  light  well-seasoned  canoe  in  the  hands 
of  two  experts,  they  were  little  better  than  mud 
scows. 

The  sight  of  the  umiaks  and  the  knowledge 
that  this  might  make  or  mar,  to  a  great  extent,  the 
resources  of  the  party,  put  ginger  into  Eoger, 
and  the  way  in  which  that  little  boat  was  urged 
over  the  water  was  almost  incredible.  To  the 
natives,  who  had  never  seen  anything  but  craft 
of  their  own  making,  and  the  heavy  staunch  boats 
of  whaling  steamers,  the  speed  was  little  short  of 
magic.  Harry  and  Eoger  overtook  them  as 
though  they  had  been  standing  still. 

The  party  of  Eskimo  was  on  its  way  to  Point 


378        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

Barrow,  where  most  of  the  natives  expected  to 
winter,  and  as  they  planned  to  trade,  had  an 
interpreter  with  them.  To  him  Roger  explained 
their  needs.  But  the  natives  showed  little  de 
sire  to  take  the  travelers  in  their  boats  over  the 
long  sea  trip,  and  the  boy,  knowing  the  urgency 
of  the  case,  was  at  his  wits'  end.  Indeed  the 
Eskimo  were  just  about  to  paddle  away  to  the 
open  sea,  where  the  little  canoe  would  scarcely 
dare  to  follow  them,  when  Harry  said  suddenly: 

"  Good.    You  offer  give  canoe." 

"  You  mean  in  exchange  for  a  passage  to  Point 
Barrow?  "  said  Roger,  seeing  the  plan.  "  Good 
scheme,  I'll  try  it." 

He  turned  to  the  interpreter,  and  pointed  out 
that  if  they  would  give  them  provisions  and  take 
them  to  the  cape,  not  only  would  they  get  money, 
but  that  the  great  chief  would  give  them  the  swift 
boat  as  a  token  of  kindness.  But  the  boy  hardly 
expected  that  the  offer  would  create  the  excite 
ment  that  resulted. 

The  very  thought  that  this  magical,  fast-speed 
ing  little  boat  might  become  the  property  of  the 
tribe  excited  the  occupants  of  all  the  umiaks. 
Boat  races,  it  appeared,  were  the  only  sport  in 
Arctic  waters,  and  if  this  tribe  had  such  a  boat 


RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER     379 

as  that  they  could  be  the  champions  of  the  Arctic 
seas.  There  was  no  further  hesitation,  and  with 
eagerness  the  whole  party  hastened  to  where  the 
camp  had  been  pitched,  the  smoke  leading  the 
way  without  much  difficulty.  On  the  way  they 
learned  that  Nigaluk  was  further  west,  on  an 
arm  of  the  delta  which  branched  off  quite  a  dis 
tance  higher  up  the  river,  and  that  the  settle 
ment  they  had  found  was  a  comparatively  new 
place,  as  yet  uncharted. 

Bad  weather  came,  and  several  days  were  lost 
by  storms,  so  that  the  trip,  even  in  the  Eskimo 
umiaks  and  under  the  conditions  the  natives 
knew  so  well  how  to  overcome,  was  by  no  means 
easy,  and  Roger  shivered  at  the  thought  of  the 
terrible  experience  he  would  have  had  to  face,  if 
they  had  not  overtaken  the  Eskimo  boats.  The 
canoe,  which  was  being  towed  behind  the  larg 
est  umiak,  was  almost  a  fetish  for  the  natives, 
and  the  way  it  rose  to  every  wave,  never  ship 
ping  even  a  drop  of  water,  to  them  was  a  con 
stant  source  of  delight.  They  jabbered  the  whole 
trip  through  of  their  sure  success  in  the  races  of 
next  season. 

Camping  along  the  shore  was  difficult,  as  no 
wood  except  a  few  occasional  sticks  of  driftwood 


380        WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

was  procurable,  and  the  water,  while  plentiful, 
was  uniformly  brackish.  But  trouble  was  not 
to  let  them  go  so  easily.  A  steady  and  heavy 
gale  set  in  from  the  northeast  and  the  ice-pack 
began  to  drive. 

Then  the  Eskimos  gave  a  taste  of  their  staying 
qualities.  For  fifty-four  consecutive  hours  their 
paddles  never  ceased  a  second,  one  man  in  each 
boat  eating  and  resting  while  the  others  paddled. 
The  Survey  men  took  their  turn  at  the  labor,  and 
trained  to  endurance  as  they  were,  they  com 
peted  well  with  the  untiring  swing  of  the  Eskimo 
paddle,  and  gained  the  admiration  of  the  natives. 
For  the  last  four  hours  it  was  a  flight  for  life  that 
kept  every  nerve  alert  and  tense,  and  the  ice-pack 
was  not  fifty  yards  from  shore  when  the  boats, 
paddling  furiously,  rounded  Point  Barrow.  Half 
of  them  ran  into  the  little  Eskimo  village  of 
Nuwuk,  just  at  the  extremity  of  the  point,  but 
the  others  took  the  Survey  party  to  the  main  set 
tlement,  where  a  store,  a  mission  church,  and  a 
post-office  bespeak  the  habits  of  the  white  man. 

With  steam  up  and  all  ready  to  start,  lay  with 
her  anchor  on  a  spring  the  little  revenue  cutter, 
fearing  the  ice,  now  only  stayed  from  further 
advance  by  the  projection  of  Point  Barrow,  the 


RACING  A  POLAR  WINTER     381 

easterly  bent  of  the  wind  having  so  far  left  open 
water.  The  steamer's  boat  was  waiting  as  the 
umiaks  ran  in,  for  they  had  been  sighted  some 
hours  before.  The  few  necessaries  of  the  party, 
the  maps  and  records  were  trans-shipped  without 
delay,  the  natives  duly  paid  and  rewarded,  mail 
secured,  and  in  less  than  ten  minutes  from  touch 
ing  the  shore  the  men  were  on  board  the  cutter. 

As  they  went  up  the  ladder  and  set  foot  on 
deck  Rivers  turned  to  Roger,  who  had  followed 
him,  with  the  rest  of  the  party. 

"  We're  back,  boys,"  he  said,  "  and  you've 
stuck  right  to  the  end.  No  man  could  ask  finer 
comrades  on  the  trail,"  he  put  his  hand  on  the 
boy's  shoulder;  "  men,  every  one  of  you,  and  the 
boy  as  good  a  helper  as  any  one  could  wish  to 
have." 


THE   END 


U.  S.  SERVICE  SERIES 

By  FRANCIS  ROLT-WHEELER 

Illustrations  from  photographs  taken  in  work  for  U.  S.  Government 
Large  12mo    Cloth    $1.50  per  volume 


THE  BOY  WITH  THE 
U.S.SURVEY* 


THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

A  PPEALING  to  the  boy's  love  of  excitement, 
*»•  this  series  gives  actual  experiences  in  the 
different  branches  of  United  States  Government 
work  little  known  to  the  general  public.  This 
story  describes  the  thrilling  adventures  of  members 
of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  graphically 
woven  into  a  stirring  narrative  that  both  pleases 
and  instructs.  The  author  enjoys  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  chiefs  of  the  various 
bureaus  in  Washington,  and  is  able  to  obtain  at 
first  hand  the  material  for  the  books. 

"  There  is  abundant  charm  and  vigor  in  the  narrative 
which  is  sure  to  please  the  boy  readers  and  will  do 
much  toward  stimulating  their  patriotism  by  making 
them  alive  to  the  needs  of  conservation  of  the  vast 
resources  of  their  country." — Chicago  Ne-ws. 

"This  is   a  book  one  can  heartily   recommend  for  boys,    and    it   has    life 
enough  to  suit  the  most  eager  of  them.  — Christian  Register,  Boston. 

THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  FORESTERS 

THE  life  of  a  typical  boy  is  followed  in  all  its 
adventurous  detail — the  mighty  representa 
tive  of  our  country's  government,  though  young 
in  years — a  youthful  monarch  in  a  vast  domain  of 
forest.  Replete  with  information,  alive  with 
adventure,  and  inciting  patriotism  at  every  step, 
this  handsome  book  is  one  to  be  instantly 
appreciated. 

"  It  is  at  once  a  most  entertaining  and  instructive 
study  of  forestry  and  a  most  delightful  story  of  boy  life 
in  the  service." — Cincinnati  Times-Star. 

"  It  is  a  fascinating  romance  of  real  life  in  our 
country,  and  will  prove  a  great  pleasure  and  inspiration 
to  the  boys  who  read  it." — The  Continent,  Chicago. 

"  No  one  beginning  to  read  this  book  will  willingly 
lay  it  down  till  he  has  reached  the  last  chapter.  — 
Christian  Advocate,  Cincinnati. 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  sea t  postpaid  on  receipt  of 
price  by  the  publishers 

LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  Boston 


THE  BOY  WITHTM 
U.S.FORESTERS 


FIVE  CHUMS  SERIES 

By  NORMAN  BRAINERD 
12mo    Cloth    Illustrated    $1.25  each 

Winning  His  Shoulder  Straps 

A    ROUSING  story  of  life  in  a  military  school 


WINNING  HIS 
SHOULDRSimPS 


NORMAN  BRAINERD 


by  one  who  thoroughly  knows  all  its  features. 
Bob  Anderson,  the  hero,  is  a  good  friend  to  tie  to, 
and  each  of  his  four  particular  friends  is  a  worthy 
companion,  with  well-sustained  individuality. 
Athletics  are  plentifully  featured,  and  every  boy, 
good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  is  a  natural  fellow, 
who  talks  and  acts  like  a  bright,  up-to-date  lad  in 
real  life. 

"The  story  throughout  i*  clean  and  wholesome, 
and  will  not  fail  to  be  appreciated  by  any  boy  reader 
who  has  red  blood  in  his  veins." — Kennebec  Journal. 

"There  are  school  and  athletic  competitions, 
pranks  and  frolics  and  all  in  all  a  book  of  which  most 
boy  readers  will  have  no  criticism  to  make." — Spring- 
Jield  Republican, 

Winning  the  Eagle  Prize 

THE  hero  not  only  works  his  way  at  Chatham 
Military  School  after  his  father's  financial 
misfortune,  but  has  the  piuck  to  try  for  a  prize 
which  means  a  scholarship  in  college.  It  is  very 
hard  for  a  lad  of  his  make-up  to  do  the  requisite 
studying,  besides  working  and  taking  a  prominent 
part  in  athletics,  and  he  is  often  in  trouble,  for, 
unlike  some  others,  who  are  naturally  antagonistic 
to  the  frank,  impulsive  Billy,  he  scorns  to  evade 
responsibility.  His  four  friends  are  loyal  to  the 
fullest  extent,  and  all  comes  right  in  the  end. 

"Athletics  play  a  prominent  part  in  the  story  and  the  whole  is  delightfully 
stimulating  in  the  fine  ideals  of  life  which  it  sets  before  its  young  readers." — Chi 
cago  News. 

"  The  workmanship  of  the  author  is  up  to  his  high  mark  and  this  book  is  one 
to  be  appreciated  by  any  active  reader  who  has  not  forgotten  his  boyhood,  or,  if  he 
is  a  boy  yet,  has  the  real  boy  spirit,  clean,  and  wholesome  and  natural." — Buffalo 
News. 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers  or  sent  postpaid  on  receipt  of 
price  by  the  publishers 

LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  BOSTON 


WINNING  THE 
EAGLE  PRIZE 


NORMAN  BRAINERD 


THE  BOYS  OF  BROOKFIELD  ACADEMY 


By  WARREN   L.   ELDRED 

Illustrated  by  Arthur  O.  Scott     Large  12mo     Cloth     $1.50 

THIS  story   tells  of   a  boys'  school,  with  a. 
glorious    past,    but   an    uncertain    future, 
largely   due   to   the   wrong    kind   of    a   secret 
society,  a  vital  problem  in  hundreds  of  schools 
to-day. 

The  boys,  after  testing  his  patience  in  every 
way  that  youthful  ingenuity  can  suggest,  come 
to  rally  about  an  athletic  and  brainy  young 
graduate  in  the  splendid  transformation  of  the 
society,  and  soon  of  the  entire  academy,  in  one 
of  the  best  school  and  athletic  stories  yet  written. 

"Things  are  doing  all  the  way  through  the  story, 
which  is  clean,  manly  and  inspiring."  —  Christian 
Endeavor  World. 


THE  LOOKOUT  ISLAND  CAMPERS 

By  WARREN   L.  ELDRED 

liiustrated  by  Arthur  O.  Scott     Largs  12ma     Cloth     $1.50 

THIS  is  a  story  of  active  boys  of  fifteen  or  so. 
They  are  very  fortunate  in  the  friendship  of 
the  principal  of  their  school  and  his  friend,  an 
athletic  young  doctor.  Under  the  care  of  these 
two  they  go  into  camp  on  an  island  well  suited 
to  the  purpose,  and  within  easy  distance  of  a 
thronged  summer  resort.  A  series  of  exciting 
ball  games  and  athletic  contests  with  the  boys 
at  the  hotel  naturally  follows,  and  the  boys  display 
as  many  varieties  of  human  nature  as  could  their 
elders. 

"  Mr.  Eldred's  book  is  almost  certain  to  meet  with 
a  ready  response  from  young  readers,  for  not  only  are 
the  boys  filled  with  life  and  vigor  of  a  true  youthful 
and  appreciable  variety  but  their  experiences  are 

entertaining  in   themselves   and  may  perhaps   give  the  young  readers   ideas  for 

summer  plans  of  their  own." — Chicago  Trioune. 


THE 

LOOKOUT  ISLAND 
CAMPERS 


For  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  sent  postpaid  on  receipt  of  price  by  the  publishers 
LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD   CO.,    BOSTON 


THE  BOY  CRAFTSMAN 


THE 

BOY 

CPAFTS- 

MAN 


Practical  and  Profitable  Ideas  for  a  Boy"** 
Leisure  Hours 

By  A.  NEELY  HALL 

Illustrated    with    over   400    diagrams    and 
working  drawings     8vo     Price,  $2.00 

"T  VERY  real  boy  wishes  to  design  and  make 
^— '  things,  but  the  questions  of  materials  and 
tools  are  often  hard  to  get  around.  Nearly  all 
books  on  the  subject  call  for  a  greater  outlay  of 
money  than  is  within  the  means  of  many  boys, 
or  their  parents  wish  to  expend  in  such  ways. 
In  this  book  a  number  of  chapters  give  sugges 
tions  for  carrying  on  a  small  business  that  will 
bring  a  boy  in  money  with  which  to  buy  tools 
and  materials  necessary  for  making  apparatus 
and  articles  described  in  other  chapters,  while 
the  ideas  are  so  practical  that  many  an  indus 
trious  boy  can  learn  what  he  is  best  fitted  for  in  his  life  work.  No  work 
of  its  class  is  so  completely  up-to-date  or  so  worthy  in  point  of  thorough 
ness  and  avoidance  of  danger.  The  drawings  are  profuse  and  excellent, 
and  every  feature  of  the  book  is  first-class.  It  tells  how  to  make  a  boy's 
workshop,  how  to  handle  tools,  and  what  can  be  made  with  them;  how 
to  start  a  printing  shop  and  conduct  an  amateur  newspaper,  how  to 
make  photographs,  build  a  log  cabin,  a  canvas  canoe,  a  gymnasium,  a 
miniature  theatre,  and  many  other  things  dear  to  the  soul  of  youth. 

We  cannot  imagine  a  more  delightful  present  for  a  boy  than  this  book.— 
Churchman,  N.r. 

Every  boy  should  have  this  book.  It's  a  practical  book  —  it  gets  right  next  to 
the  boy's  heart  and  stays  there.  He  will  have  it  near  him  all  the  time,  and  on  every 
page  there  is  a  lesson  or  something  that  will  stand  the  boy  in  good  need.  Beyond 
a  doubt  in  its  line  this  is  one  of  the  cleverest  books  on  the  market.  —  Providence 
News. 

If  a  boy  has  any  sort  of  a  mechanical  turn  of  mind,  his  parents  should  see  that 
be  has  this  book  — Boston  Journal. 

This  is  a  book  that  will  do  boys  good.  —  Buffalo  Express. 

The  boy  who  wi!l  not  find  this  book  a  .nine  of  joy  and  profit  must  be  qaeerly 
constituted.  —  Pittsburgh  Gazette. 

Will  be  a  delight  to  the  boy  mechanic.  —  Watchman,  Boston-, 

An  admirable  book  to  give  a  boy.  —  Newark  News. 

This  book  is  the  best  yet  offered  for  its  large  number  of  practical  and  profitable 
ideas.  —  Milwaukee  Free  Press. 

Parents  ought  to  know  of  this  book.  —  New  Tork  Glob*. 


For  sale  by  all  booksellers  or  cent  postpaid  on  receipt  of 
price  by  the  publishers, 

LOTHROP,    LEE    &    SHEPARO    CO.,    BOSTON 


By  A.  T.  DUDLEY 
Illustrated  by  Charles  Copeland    12mo    Cloth   $1.25  each 

THE  SCHOOL  FOUR 

THE  events  of  the  story  centre  in  the  West- 
cott    School,  one    of   three  which   have 
formed  a  new  league.     The  leading  forms  of 
athletics,  including  rowing,  figure  in  the  gain 
ing  of  points  towards  a  championship  cup,  and 
the  rivalry  is  most  intense.     At  Westcott's, 
the  crowning  student  honor  is  the  captaincy 
of  the  school  four,  and  the  way  in  which  the 
succession  to  the  coveted  position  falls  to  the 
one  best  deserving  it  forms  the  climax.    Foot 
ball  is  no  less  prominent  in  the  progress  of 
the  story  than  rowing,  and  both  general  school 
life    and    competitive    relations    with    other 
schools  are  set  forth  to  the  life. 
The  tone  of  the  book  is  manly,  holding  up  the  honesty  and  true  simplicity 
of  the  true  athlete  and  setting  up  a  high  standard  to  the  sport-loving  boy. — 
Public  Ledger,  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Dudley  takes  easy  lead  in  strong,  vigorous  books  for  young  America. — 
Interior,  Chicago. 

At  the  Home  Plate 

""THE   scene  of  this   book  is  at  a  public 

*•  school,  "Newbury,"  which  seeks  to  win 
a  prize  cup  held  by  its  rival,  "Westcott's," 
the  winner  during  the  first  year  of  the  "Tri 
angular  League."  This  is  hard  to  accomplish, 
and  an  important  factor  is  a  new  student  who 
had  to  overcome  the  handicap  of  being  the 
brother  of  an  unpopular  teacher.  There  is 
good  baseball  in  this  book,  but  it  is  hardly 
more  prominent  than  football  and  hockey. 

No  boy  who  is  interested  in  sports  can  fail  to  find 
both  pleasure  and_profit  in  this  lively  school  story.— 
Portland  (Me.)  Express. 

A  clean,  wholesome  and  thoroughly  entertaining  tale  that  every  boy  ought 
to  like.  —  Cincinnati  Times. Star. 

The  writer  has  a  vigorous  and  vivid  way  of  telling  his  story,  and  it  has  every 
excellence  that  such  a  book  should  contain. —  Buffalo  News. 

For  salo  by  all  booksellers  or  seat  postpaid  oa  receipt  of 
price  by  the  publishers 

LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  Boston 


LARRY  BURKE 
FRESHMAN 


Larry  Burke,  Freshman 

By  FRANK  I.  ODELL 

Illustrated  by  H.  C.  Edwards    $1.25 

THIS  book  bristles  with  activity :  baseball,  foot 
ball,  ice-hockey,  basketball,  track  and  field 
events,  and  a  regatta  appearing,  and  each  sport 
brought  in  with  expert  accuracy  of  detail,  and 
realism  that  makes  one  live  over  his  own  most 
thrilling  athletic  experiences.  Along  with  this  is 
a  charming  narrative  of  student  life  and  comrade 
ship — the  golden  days  that  have  no  others  like 
them.  Every  boy  and  man  who  ever  heard  of  a 
college  can  take  delight  in  this  book. 

"The  high  tone  of  mostof  the  boys,  their  comradeship  and  good  will  toward 
one  another  are  felt  through  the  whole  book.  And  if  ever  a  boy  deserved  friends  or 
success,  it  was  the  noble-hearted  hero  of  the  story,  Larry  Burke." — Louisville 
Courier -Journal. 

"  A  bovs'  book  that  is  filled  with  healthy  adventure  and  actiom  from  cover  to 
cover."—  Cincinnati  Times-Star. 

Tim  and  Roy  in  Camp 

By  FRANK  PENDLETON 

Illustrated  by  J.  W.  Kennedy      Large   12mo    $1.50 

TX  this  book  is  crowded  a  wealth  of  sport,  adven- 
*  tare,  Indian  stories,  hunting  and  camping,  facts 
about  animals  encountered,  and  all  that  will  please 
a  boy's  heart.  A  skilful  hunter  and  trapper  takes 
his  son,  nephew,  and  two  close  friends  on  such  a 
limiting  and  camping  trip  as  their  most  vivid 
imagination  could  not  have  improved  upon.  They 
are  supremely  happy  in  their  enjoyment  in  all  that 
pertains  to  the  woods,  and  his  camp-fire  stories  of 
experiences  with  Indians.  Each  of  the  boys  has  a 
chance  to  show  his  bravery  and  resourcefulness, 
and  each  is  equal  to  the  occasion. 

"The    story  is   fascinating  and  contains    not   one 
thrill  too  manv." — Chicago  ffe^us. 

"This  is  a  great  book  for  live,  active  boys,  vigorous,  wholesome,  instructive 
and  entertaining,  written  bv  a  man  who  certainly  understands  ar.d  knows  boys, 
and  who  knows  how  to  give  them  the  best  kind  of  a  vacation." — Portland  Express, 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers  or  seat  postpaid  on  receipt  of 
price  by  the  publishers 

LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  BOSTON 


25090 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


A     000818242     0 


